Tommy Fleetwood came agonizingly close to win his maiden PGA Tour title on Sunday, but a missed putt at the 72nd hole of the Travelers Championship saw him miss out
Tommy Fleetwood missed out at the Travelers(Image: AP)
A short putt cost Tommy Fleetwood his maiden PGA Tour title at the Travelers Championship, but it appears a bad break could well have been to blame.
Fleetwood showed his true colors after being denied his breakthrough victory on American soil at TPC River Highlands, being left “upset” and “angry” as Keegan Bradley took advantage of the Englishman’s misfortune to bank his second win in three years at the event. Fleetwood had been the man in control for the majority of the week, after Amanda Balionis shared a remarkable admission he had made before the tournament.
And even after a slow start on Sunday, the European Ryder Cup star ensured he remained on top down the final stretch and at the 72nd hole of the week.
It came down to his efforts on the green, as Fleetwood left himself eight feet for par to keep his chances alive. Sadly for the seven-time DP World Tour winner, he saw his effort fall right of the hole, before tidying up for what will have been the most frustrating bogey of his career.
Bradley, meanwhile, swooped in, rolling in a putt from around six feet down a similar line to ensure he was crowned champion. Fleetwood’s missed putt will have been a bitter pill to swallow, but on closer inspection, it appeared to have unexpectedly deviated off the intended line.
The deviation was highlighted by Brandel Chamblee on social media, who believes Fleetwood was hard done by some sort of mark on the putting surface. “Tommy Fleetwood’s short putt on the 18th hole of the @TravelersChamp clearly hit something that caused it to dart right and miss,” Chamblee tweeted.
Tommy Fleetwood’s short putt on the 18th hole of the @TravelersChamp clearly hit something that caused it to dart right and miss.
On the @GolfCentral set last night, after he won, Keegan Bradley told @RichLernerGC and me that Fleetwood’s putt “broke” more than he thought, but…
— Brandel Chamblee (@chambleebrandel) June 23, 2025
“On the @GolfCentral set last night, after he won, Keegan Bradley told @RichLernerGC and me that Fleetwood’s putt ‘broke’ more than he thought, but that he —from almost the exact same line—played less break because he believed his read over what he had just seen.
“I feel bad for Tommy, but you’ve got to hand it to Keegan for the shots he played at the last and the belief he showed in an incredible reversal of fortune.” Despite the brutal finish, Fleetwood faced up to the media in the aftermath. “I haven’t been in this situation for a while,” he explained.
“I think, you know, when it sort of calms down — I’m upset now, I’m angry — when it calms down, look at the things that I did well, look at the things that I can learn from. I said yesterday I haven’t been in this position all year, so it’s been a while, felt like I did a lot of good things.
“But there were things that I definitely can do better, and I have to do better. So I did plenty of things well enough this week to win, I didn’t do that, it hurts. When it calms down, the most stupid thing to do and the worst thing to do would be to make a week like this a hindrance to what you do going forward.”