How Justin Rose rallied to beat J.J. Spaun in FedEx St. Jude playoff | Golf Central | Golf Channel

In a playoff that could have gone “either way,” Anna Jackson and Johnson Wagner dive into Sunday’s final round at the 2025 FedEx St. Jude Championship, where Justin Rose and J.J. Spaun battled after Tommy Fleetwood lost his grip on the top spot. #golf #pgatour #golfchannel

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How Justin Rose rallied to beat J.J. Spaun in FedEx St. Jude playoff | Golf Central | Golf Channel
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Golf Central on YouTube is brought to you by the new Chrome Tour golf ball from Callaway. Let’s get to the highlights. Starting with our 54hole leader, Tommy Fleetwood. He was at 14 under here on the first. He flared it into the bunker off the tea. Actually hit a wonderful pitch to leave himself that par putt, but that would ultimately be a bogey to start. Yeah, not a great start for the Englishman. Drops to 13 under. Meanwhile, we didn’t speak much about JJ Sporn and we should have done. and he plays this underdog role very well here on nine. He was quietly going about his business on the front nine, playing alongside Scotty Sheffller and uh just true class performance today. Before you know it, he took the outright lead at 14 under. Justin Rose now at 13 under. Same hole here on nine. And this was a bit shocking. He hit it in the front penalty area in the pond yesterday to a front pin, but to a back pin, he’s posing on this. That was some landing 10 yards away from where he was trying to. Yeah. Comes up just short in the water as you mentioned, just like yesterday. and he drops to 12 under. So you’re thinking maybe it’s not his day. Meanwhile, Scotty Sheffller started two off the lead. Of course, he’s not playing with his usual caddy Ted Scott today. He had to head home for personal reasons. He’s with Brad Payne on the bag. We now find him on 10. And this is where Scotty really got going here on this back nine. Beautiful putt dripping in. Brad Payne catti for him Saturday at Valhalla last year when Ted Scott went to his daughter’s high school graduation. That’s right. So they have got history as a pairing. barely there at the 10 to get to 14. Fleetwood now here on 12 to tie the lead. And he had made 10 straight pars to this point. And this is exactly what he needed after that opening bogey to get it going. And boy did he ever get it going right here. Finally, first birdie of the day. Fleetwood gets some momentum. This now for Birdie on 13 for the lead. Uh absolutely a beautiful iron shot in there. And you can just see the pace in which he started putting after that one finally went in on 12. He was hammering him in the back of the cup. He’s looking dialed in. Perhaps this could be the day he becomes a PGA winner for the first time. This for par on 14. Huge putt. He played conservatively out to the left hand side. Left it well short and that just kept it going. Stays for the solo lead at 15 under. Meanwhile, Sheffller now for par on 15. Left off the tea. Was able to hit it through the trees over the green. Hit a good pitch and he said he hit a good putt there. It just didn’t go in. I think all day today a lot of the the putts he hit just didn’t quite fall. That’s right. So he dropped two backs to 13 under. Rosie now on 15, his second. Beautiful shot. Kind of had to play a little draw around the trees right there and leaves it in a nice spot just above the hole. Hits that inside 10 ft. Gives himself a good opportunity there. Meanwhile, Tommy, these two, of course, playing in the final pairing together. His second on 15. Final pairing together for the second straight day. Good friends. Obviously, we’re cool, calm, and collected out there. And they were feeding off each other’s energy here midway through the back nine. So, both make birdie. Fleetwood gets to 16 under and takes a twoshot lead over Rose and Spawn now on to 16. Tommy’s third. Took relief from the grand stand when his second shot rolled up against it. Pretty good lie in the rough. Didn’t know if he should play it low or high. Played it high. And you can see that wind uh blowing a little bit down. Just took it off this edge of the green leaving now a brutal brutal up and down just to save par here at the easy par five. Yeah. So he’s got work to do there on 16. Meanwhile, here is Justin with a birdie opportunity on the same hole. Putting straight down the hill. And boy, did he hit a good bunker shot off the front bunker. Was shocked that it didn’t get past the hole. So Rosie closes the gap to just one behind Fleetwood. His third straight birdie on this final stretch. Here’s JJ Spawn now. Just a massive putt here on 17. Sheffler had just burned the edge. Spawn knocks it right in the middle of the cup. And I love the way he you can see why he plays so good in these big moments. He’s stoic. Spawn now tied for the lead. Rose for birdie on 17 to tie the lead again at 16 under. Makes that for four birdies in a row coming down the back nine. What a clutch performance. So Fleetwood huge putt from Rose. Now Fleetwood does this to stay remaining tied with both Spawn and and Rose. And the way he stood up out of it, he I think he knew he was going to miss it before he pulled the putter head back. Yeah. It just felt like it was a mental blip there for Fleetwood. So, he drops one back. So, Rosie now in 18 Burley to win the championship and he hit a really good putt here. It broke just to the right, but he would have another chance at this putt. He’d have a couple more chances at that putt. He finishes at 16 and heads into the playoffs. So, here’s now Justin Rose first playoff hole. Bit of a dicey T-shot and he’s been hitting the ball a lot longer this week. He’s averaging about 12 yards longer than normal. This is uh No way that covers. And it does. It’s about 3:15 on that line to find land. And what a break right there. Yeah, what a great But also what a shot he’s able to deliver from this position here. I was kind of hoping he was going to take his shoes off and he almost went in uh there. Lost his balance a bit, but look at this. Nerves of steel. Leaving himself virtually the same putt he just had in regulation. That’s right. So JJ Sporne now he leaves himself with this long birdie putt here. reminiscent of what he did at the US Open, of what he almost did on 18 in regulation at the players just grazing the edge of the cup. He’s so exciting with these long putts on the 18th green. You just think he’s going to make it. So, he makes par. This is Rosie now. Bley put a to win. Missed it right in regulation. And this is identical. Basically, he just caught a little bit more of the hole than he did the first time around. This playoff could have gone either way. It was just such a fine margin as to who was going to take this home. So, pass for the pair of them. Second play of hole, spawn for birdie. And JJ Spawn, if he’s got a putt to do anything in the RDER Cup from about 30 feet, my money’s on him making it. Anna, those New York fans are going to erupt if he can deliver moments like that. So, he is in. Rosie now to extend the playoff. Just so just gritty and determined. You can see the look in his eye. I’d put the winning putt for the Ryder Cup on either of these guys. Now, a new hole location. They did mix it up for the third playoff halt, but they stuck on 18. The crowds were just too good to move on from this moment. Rosie now for Birdie. Lots of left to right break. Not an easy one to commit to, especially when his shadows over the hole. And the 45-year-old Englishman puts all the pressure on JJ Spawn to respond. Has to make this to extend. In that position, when you have to make it to extend, you generally hit it a little firmer than you normally would. And that’s why you saw that putt not take the break. And there it is. What an exciting final couple of hours we were treated to down in Memphis as Justin Rose at the age of 45 in his 443rd PGA Tour appearance clinches his 12th title in such dramatic fashion. His experience prevailed over JJ Spawn who’s already had such a breakout year. in that final round 65 just got him right up there into the playoff. Tommy Fleetwood as you saw just those final couple of holes just ended up being too much and he’d end up finishing in that tide for third with world number one Scotty Sheffller. Ricky Fowler, one of the bubble boys to play himself into the top 50. We’re going to get to that storyline a little bit later in the show, but right now this moment belongs to Justin Rose as he joins Todd Lewis. Justin, what a show. You burned four of your last five holes in regulation and then that playoff run was so beautiful. That battle you had with JJ. What do you feel like you elevated in the latter part of your day today to get the job done? Yeah. Um needs must, you know. I think if you if you want to win sometimes you got to find a way to do it and um doesn’t always happen obviously, but I think for me the key was 14. You know, if I’m accepting good points, good finish, you’re not taking on that shot in 14. but kind of held a six sign in there because I was three back. I knew I needed to make some birdies. Uh yeah, I actually I I I said to myself, I was four down, six to play, and I needed to beat the golf course. So, I kind of knew I needed to have that type of finish and uh end up finishing all square with it. I had a putt to win my match against myself, which would have been to win the tournament. So, yeah, I did push myself coming in to to have that type of finish and I kept believing and um obviously the putter wasn’t warm for the first part of the day, but sort of said to myself, theory of large numbers. if I keep doing the same thing and don’t try too hard and keep being free, maybe maybe my putts will, you know, maybe my turn will come on the greens. And it’s kind of exactly how the day panned out. But, um, you know, JJ’s one of my favorite guys on tour. It’s never, you know, Tommy’s one of my favorite guys on tour. Is my favorite guy on tour, you know, so bittersweet from those points of view. But, again, after, you know, a tough playoff loss for myself at the Masters this year, this one definitely feels good. And, um, yeah, I’m delighted for the team. So, so many of us put in a lot of hard work this year. [Applause]