Max Greyserman was inches away from his first PGA TOUR title – multiple times – on a twisting and turning Sunday at the Rocket Classic. In the end, it was the result he has authored too many times for his liking in the last 12 months, another second-place finish without a trophy.

Greyserman, 30, fell to Aldrich Potgieter on the fifth playoff hole at the Rocket Classic; Potgieter drained an 18-foot birdie on the fifth extra hole, the short par-3 15th at Detroit Golf Club, after Greyserman’s 34-foot birdie try burned the edge. That result was nothing new for Greyserman on this Sunday in Motor City. He had a 12-foot birdie try to win on the 72nd hole that missed on the left side. He had a 16-footer for birdie on the third playoff hole that missed by a razor’s edge, as did his 29-footer for eagle on the next hole.

It was a litany of close calls for a player who has had a litany of close calls on TOUR in recent times (and on the Korn Ferry Tour, where he notched 13 top-10 finishes without a win across five seasons). But he’ll have to wait, once again.

“Unfortunately, didn't get the job done. Thought I hit a lot of good shots down the stretch. Very pleased with how I handled myself down the stretch,” Greyserman said after recording his fourth runner-up finish since last July. “This one's going to sting for a little bit, but I'll get back to work in two weeks.”

Greyserman entered the week at No. 64 on the FedExCup standings, a consistent campaign that included eight top-25 finishes in his first 19 starts – but just one top-10 finish, a tie for seventh at The American Express in January. It was a backwards step from 2024, where he notched three second-place finishes in a five-event span between July and October. In two of those showings, he charged on the final day before coming just short (at the 3M Open and Baycurrent Classic). In between was a heartbreaking defeat at the Wyndham Championship, where he played his final five holes in 5-over (including a quadruple bogey at the 14th hole) to finish two short of winner Aaron Rai. Afterward at Sedgefield Country Club, Greyserman vowed that he’d learn from the experience. “I'm just going to walk away with more confidence, look at the positive things and learn from the mistakes,” he said at the time.

Greyserman, who played collegiately at Duke and spent five years on the Korn Ferry Tour before earning his TOUR card in 2023, isn’t afraid to keep returning to the arena. He opened in rounds of 63-70-66 at Detroit Golf Club to earn a spot in Sunday’s final pairing alongside Potgieter, and he kept a clean card Sunday to earn his spot in the playoff (five birdies against no bogeys). Then he gave himself plenty of chances in overtime – where Chris Kirk was eliminated with a three-putt bogey on the second extra hole, but Greyserman matched Potgieter for two more holes before the 20-year-old South African’s eventual heroics.

Once again, Greyserman played well enough to win, and he knew it.

“I did a lot of good things," Greyserman added. "I started the day two back. Obviously wish I could have had a few shots back or a few putts, but hit a couple good putts at the end with pretty decent speed and sometimes putts don't go in. I hit a good putt on 18 in regulation. I hit a good putt on the second playoff hole, I think it was, good putt on the third playoff hole. Even the fourth and fifth playoff hole, decent putts, just longer range. Yeah, just wasn't my time.”

Greyserman’s result at the Rocket Classic came a week after Tommy Fleetwood, arguably the best player ever without a PGA TOUR win, finished one shot shy of his first TOUR win after a 72nd-hole turnaround at the Travelers Championship – Fleetwood three-putted from the front fringe before Keegan Bradley drained a 6-footer for the win. Fleetwood has notched 42 career top-10 finishes on TOUR without a win, the most by a wide margin (the next closest is Brett Quigley with 34). Greyserman is well short of that threshold (this marks his eighth top-10 finish on TOUR) – but that’s not a category he cares to lead at any point in his career. He wants a trophy, and he has the game to make it happen. But as he said, it just wasn’t his time.