Rose wins play-off as Fleetwood's PGA wait goes on

Justin Rose now has 26 professional wins

St Jude Championship - final leaderboard

-16 JJ Spaun (US), J Rose* (Eng); -15 S Scheffler (US), T Fleetwood (Eng); -11 C Young (US); -10 A Novak (US), R Fowler (US), A Bhatia (US)

*Rose won after third hole of sudden-death play-off

Selected others: -6 A Rai (Eng), H Hall (Eng); -4 M Fitzpatrick (Eng); -3 R MacIntyre (Sco)

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Justin Rose beat JJ Spaun in a nail-biting play-off to win the St Jude Championship, his first PGA Tour title in more than two years.

The 45-year-old Englishman had lost on the first hole of a sudden-death play-off with Rory McIlroy at this year's Masters.

But this time the world number 20 held his nerve to take it to a third sudden-death hole with American Spaun at TPC Southwind in Memphis.

Both hit par on their first go at the 18th hole and birdied their second, before Spaun failed to follow suit after Rose claimed another birdie.

That gave Rose his 12th PGA Tour title while compatriot Tommy Fleetwood's wait for his first win goes on after he had gone into the final round of his 162nd event on the US circuit with a one-stroke lead.

The world number 15, a seven-time winner on the European Tour, bogeyed the penultimate hole to relinquish a share of the lead and finish one adrift of Rose and Spaun, tied for third with world number one Scottie Scheffler.

The 34-year-old bogeyed his first hole of the day and had to settle for par on the next 10, but it looked as though he could finally claim his maiden PGA win as he produced a run of three birdies in four holes from the 12th.

"I'm getting close, that's the good side of it," said Fleetwood. "On the back nine, I managed to get myself ahead, played some really good golf, putted really well.

"Justin and JJ have done great there and I just didn't do enough.

"I'm obviously disappointed. I was right in there with a chance, and it's hard."

Fleetwood has the highest PGA Tour earnings without a victory, with his runner-up finish to Keegan Bradley at the Travelers Championship in June taking him past $31.4m (£23.3m).

He has now had six top-five finishes this season and 29 on the US tour - 11 more than any other player without a win over the past 40 years, ahead of Brett Quigley with 18.

Rose became the first player in his 40s to win on Tour this season, claiming his first title since the Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February 2023.

He trailed by one shot overnight and had a mixed round until a run of four straight birdies from the 14th.

Rose almost made it five on the last, which would have secured victory without needing a play-off, but his putt was fractionally off target, meaning he finished with a three-under 67.

US Open champion Spaun hit a five-under 65 in the third round and the world number eight repeated the feat to secure his play-off spot after birdies on the 16th and 17th.

"That was an amazing last 90 minutes," said Rose. "I never stopped believing. I played unbelievable golf coming down the stretch. I had so much fun with it.

"When I bring my best I know I'm good enough to play, to compete, and now to win against the best players in the world.

"It's a very gratifying day for me and a lot of hard work coming to fruition.

"I feel like there could be a good run of golf [for me] still. I can't let my age become too much of a story but today is huge for me."

The top 50 players in the FedEx Cup standings after Sunday's round now advance to next week's BMW Championship - the second of the PGA Tour's three play-off tournaments.