Weekly Fantasy Golf Recap: Justin Rose to the Top

It was in early 2023 when a 42-year-old Justin Rose plummeted into the 80s in the world rankings. He hadn't won in four years, he hadn't qualified for the Masters after 17 appearances and it was fair to wonder whether this was, you know, the end.

Out of nowhere, the former world No. 1 won at Pebble Beach, which qualified him for the Masters, in which he tied for 16th. He made the European Ryder Cup team and has been relevant ever since, as illustrated by his runner-up at the 2024 Open Championship and 2025 Masters.

Now, he's far more than relevant. Now, at age 45, he's back in the winner's circle and the top-10 in the world.

Rose birdied four of his final five holes in regulation, then outdueled J.J. Spaun in a riveting three-hole playoff to capture the FedEx St. Jude Championship on Sunday at TPC Southwind. 

The PGA Tour's first playoff event of 2025 featured another heartbreaking collapse from Tommy Fleetwood. But more on that in a bit.

Rose suddenly is ranked ninth in the world and has locked up an automatic spot in next month's Ryder Cup. He is ahead of everyone in points in the stacked European lineup save Rory McIlroy.

As the oldest winner on Tour since Phil Mickelson won the 2021 PGA Championship at age 51, Rose showed incredible steadiness in all facets of his game, but especially on the greens. No putting yips for him.

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He sank a 15-footer on No. 14 for the first of four straight birdies. Then 9 feet, 6 feet and 23 feet. In the playoff, he birdied the final two holes, on a 7-footer and then an 11-footer, while Spaun missed from 7 feet to end it. On the first playoff hole, Rose's birdie try lipped out (as did Spaun's).

He now has a chance to win the FedEx Cup for the second time (also 2018), as he's fourth in points behind only Scottie Scheffler, McIlroy and Spaun.

"Yeah, it kind of puts me right back in the season's race," he told reporters in Memphis. "I have not even looked at where that projects me, all these types of things, but back up in the realms of where I sat for a long time. I haven't been back to East Lake since 2019, and that's been bugging me, and that's obviously been a huge goal, so that's obviously taken care of."

This has been a great year for Rose. Besides this win, he was runner-up to McIlroy at Masters, and those are two of his five top-10s. He was third at Pebble Beach, obviously a great track for him. Is it too soon to point out that the U.S. Open returns to Pebble in 2027? 

Rose is not disadvantaged off the tee, as are many of the older guys on Tour. He's middle of the pack in driving distance at well over 300 yards. And he's far above average in approach play and putting.

Quite simply, most 45-year-olds just don't do this sort of thing.

"Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of sense of pride in that," Rose said. "I think I'm not alone in it. There's been guys that have done it, but there's a pretty short list of guys that are competitive in that 45 to 50 sort of age range. Historically it was a bit of a waiting room for the Champions Tour.

"Obviously Phil bucked the trend; he won a major at 51. I feel like that's good motivation. I feel like -- I still feel like there is that golden summer of my career available to me. …

"I felt like I had to hit the shots, I had to step up again and again and again in the playoff. I felt ready for it. I felt calm. I felt collected. I think that's when you learn most about yourself. I feel excited about where I'm at at 45 and I feel like there's a good bit of runway ahead."

J.J. Spaun
The biggest takeaway for Spaun is that he moved to second in the U.S. Team Standings for the Ryder Cup, ensuring he will be at Bethpage Black next month. He also overtook Collin Morikawa in the world rankings, moving to No. 6. This was Spaun's third runner-up of the season -- THE PLAYERS, the Cognizant -- on top of winning the U.S. Open. At age 34, he didn't exactly come out of nowhere this season. Let's call it nowhere-adjacent.

Tommy Fleetwood
Fleetwood came oh-so-close. Again. And this time it really looked as if he'd win his first PGA Tour event. He sank a 35-footer  on No. 12 to trigger three birdies in a four-hole stretch that gave him a two-stroke lead with three holes to play. But he couldn't birdie the par-5 16th, then bogeyed 17, and he was relegated to share third with Scheffler, a shot out of the playoffs. It was Fleetwood's 29th top-5 finish on Tour, 11 more than anyone else without a win over the past four decades. But the fans in Memphis could not have been more supportive. 

"Well, as long as they stay with me and stay on my side, then we can all look for the positives," Fleetwood said, as gracious in defeat as ever. "Yeah, I'm lucky with the support that I get, and I have enjoyed -- I haven't been in contention much this year, and then Travelers obviously leading and I felt like it was a great atmosphere and I enjoyed playing in that atmosphere and then today again I get the crowd on my side and I love their support. I'm so appreciative of it. Kind of on this journey together here."

While Fleetwood has not been in contention much, he's eighth in points and is safely through to the TOUR Championship.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Scottie Scheffler
Scheffler's putts burned cup after cup on Sunday. And he still tied for third. In the final round, he was without regular caddie Ted Scott, who was tending to a family matter in Louisiana.

Cameron Young
One week after his maiden win, Young kept his foot on the gas and finished fifth. He shot the best round of Sunday, a 6-under 64. Young is making a bold, late push to make the Ryder Cup team, and he moved up to 14th in the U.S. Team Rankings.

Ben Griffin
Griffin tied for ninth, and you have to think at this point that he is all but certain to be a Ryder Cup captain's pick.

Xander Schauffele
Schauffele tied for 22nd but fell to 43rd in the FedExCup Standings. He will need a very strong week at the BMW to get into the top 30 to qualify for the TOUR Championship.

Keegan Bradley
The Ryder Cup captain tied for 44th, sinking to 10th in the FedExCup Standings amid growing thoughts that he should not pick himself to play and that he won't pick himself to play.

Chris Gotterup
Gotterup tied for 54th. He fell from 22nd to 26th in the FedExCup Standings, so he will need some semblance of a good week at the BMW to reach East Lake. Further, he's outside the top 20 in the Ryder Cup rankings, and his chances to become a captain's pick took a hit this week.

FEDEXCUP PLAYOFFS

There was high drama in the tournament-inside-the-tournament -- the chase to finish the week inside the top 50 in FedExCup points to qualify for next week's BMW Championship, which would ensure berths in all the signature events next season.

While five guys moved into the top 50 and thus five were knocked out, the biggest headlines were that Rickie Fowler got in and Jordan Spieth was stunningly booted out.

Fowler, Kurt Kitayama, Jhonattan Vegas, J.T. Poston and Bud Cauley advanced, at the expense of Spieth. Wyndham Clark, Min Woo Lee, Jake Knapp and Aldrich Potgieter.

Cauley made the most dramatic shot of the day (other than Rose's winning putt), holing out from a greenside bunker for birdie on 17.

For Spieth, it was a devastating end to what has to be considered a terrible season, one that saw him healthy after offseason wrist surgery. It's hard to envision him being a captain's pick for the Ryder Cup now. And he will once again be seeking sponsor invites into the eight signature events next season – he's likely to get into most if not all of them.

This was also a terrible season for Clark, one that saw only two top-10s. One of them was a T4 at the Open, and he followed that up with a T12 at the 3M Open. That sort of put him on the outskirts of the Ryder Cup map again, but this one-and-done in the playoffs killed his chances. Clark has not won since the 2023 U.S. Open, which more and more is looking like an outlier.

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