Tommy Fleetwood back in contention at TPC Toronto after letdown at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday

Tommy Fleetwood had a chance to win the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday just six days ago. He was in contention late at Muirfield Village until a bogey on the 71st hole prevented him from collecting his second PGA TOUR title.

The Englishman did what he usually does. He told reporters that he enjoyed the round, didn’t lament the near-miss and went on his way.

Less than a week later, Fleetwood is in contention again. This time he’s only two shots behind Jackson Suber after three rounds of the RBC Canadian Open, the very tournament where he suffered a heartbreaking loss three years ago by Canada’s native son, Nick Taylor, who drained a 72-foot putt in a playoff to send his compatriots falling over each other and into a collective tizzy.

Fleetwood has shot 67-65-67 at TPC Toronto to sit tied for third place at 11 under. Suber is looking for his first PGA TOUR title after shooting a third-round 66 to sit at 13 under. Bud Cauley is second, one behind Suber.

On Saturday, Fleetwood eagled the par-5 first, then rattled off 10 consecutive pars. While others were moving up, he seemed to be stuck in neutral. Then he made birdie on No. 12 from 8 feet and another on No. 14 from 5 feet, and suddenly he was squarely in the mix for the second consecutive week. An untimely bogey on No. 17 came when he blew his approach shot way right of the green and could not get up and down. Fleetwood made par at the last and signed for 67.

“I think it was a really solid day,” Fleetwood said. “I think there was a patch in the middle where I thought I was hitting it really good. … I was hitting really good shots and didn’t really make the most of it, a few putts slid by.

“I did a lot of good stuff and overall, I think it was a good round.”

Fleetwood started the year ranked third in the world and is now down to seventh. But he’s played well and is 10th in the FedExCup standings. He just hasn’t been able to capitalize on his closest opportunities, coming off a year in which he won the TOUR Championship and the FedExCup title.

Last week aside, Fleetwood’s next closest call came at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where he shot a final-round 66 and tied for fourth place behind Collin Morikawa, who shot 67. In all, he has six top-10 finishes, and his lone missed cut this season came at the PGA Championship.

In a weird way, Fleetwood said that the magical moment in 2023 here in Canada that didn’t go his way has ultimately played to his favor. The Canadian crowds love him. He contends that they did even before he lost to Taylor.

On Sunday this year, with Sudarshan Yellamaraju (T7) and Matthew Anderson (T19) being the only Canadian hopes near the top of the leaderboard, it’s possible that Fleetwood will be the favorite among the voracious gallery.

“I think they have always been great with me,” Fleetwood said. “I think even 2023, they were great with me then. I probably got about as much support as anybody could hope for during that time, during that Sunday. I’ve always enjoyed coming here, I’ve always felt like the crowd are very friendly, very supportive, very hospitable. I’ve been lucky to get the right end of that.”