Tom bruise: fresh torment for the greatest nearly man

Tommy Fleetwood's record for most top 10 finishes without a win on the PGA Tour is extended after agonising near miss

- LAWRENCE OSTLERE

By PGA Tour standards, Shaun Micheel was not a particularly good golfer. After turning professional in 1992, aged 23, the American battled just to stay on the tour for more than a decade, keeping his career afloat with wins at obscure events in Asia and on the development circuit.

Micheel was barely known when he teed it up on the first hole at Oak Hill Country Club for the 2003 PGA Championship, playing in only his third major. To most observers, he was just another name on the start list. That name is now forever etched in the 18th fairway, on a plaque which commemorates his trophy-winning shot on the 72nd hole, a seven-iron from 175 yards, which finished two inches from the hole.

"I got to the green, marked my ball and knew I was going to win," Micheel later said. "I told my caddy that I couldn't believe I'd just won a Tour event. He replied, 'This isn't a Tour event, it's a major"""

Micheel never won again on the PGA Tour despite years of trying, retiring in 2012 with health issues. As a past winner, he is still invited to play the PGA Championship each summer, but hasn't made the cut since 2011.

In many ways, Micheel's career is the antipode of Tommy Fleetwood's. Micheel won once, a major championship no less; Fleetwood holds the unwanted record for the most top 10 finishes without winning a PGA Tour event, now up to 42 after his gut-wrenching collapse at the Travelers Championship on Sunday in the latest example of why golf hurts.

Fleetwood took a three-shot lead into the final round and said on Saturday night that he hoped "this was my time”. He led by two shots with three holes to play but made bogey at 16 and again on 18, missing a par putt from six feet, which would have at least salvaged a play-off. US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley saw the door ajar and stepped through it with a nerveless birdie to steal the trophy.