Tommy Fleetwood was left furious with himself after throwing away a golden opportunity to finally end his long wait for a maiden victory on the PGA Tour.
Fleetwood took a three-shot lead heading into the final round of the Travelers Championship on Sunday, and led by two shots going into the final three holes. But a bogey on 16 and again on 18 – where he missed a six foot putt for par and a play-off – opened the door for US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley, who finished with a nerveless birdie to spark wild scenes among the partisan crowd in Connecticut.
The result means Fleetwood, 34, retains his unwanted record of the most top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour since 1983 without claiming a title, with 42.
“I feel like from where I was, I should at least be in a play-off,” Fleetwood said. “I didn’t really feel like I hit that many bad shots execution-wise, just sort of a couple of bad decisions and didn’t clean ’em up, which is pretty poor and things that I have to work on.”
He added: “I haven’t been in this situation for a while. When it sort of calms down – I am upset now, I am angry – but when it calms down, I will look at the things that I did well and look at the things that I can learn from.
“I did plenty of things well enough this week to win, but I didn’t do that and it hurts.”
Henley chipped in from the edge of the green on the 18th to secure a tie for second with Fleetwood at 14 under.
Harris English and Australian Jason Day finished at 13 under in a tie for fourth.
World No 1 Scottie Scheffler and Masters champion Rory McIlroy both shot five-under-par final rounds to get to 12 under and finish in a share of sixth place.
Newly crowned US Open champion JJ Spaun had the best round of the day, starting off at the 10th, as he carded a seven-under 63 to climb up into the top 15.
Viktor Hovland had earlier withdrawn on the third hole of his final round because of a neck injury.
additional reporting by PA