The English Rose Rediscovers Pride

In a week where English hearts were broken by our woeful footballers, a local boy and his golf clubs have been making their mark on America.

Justin Rose, the 29-year-old who was raised in Hampshire, last night won the AT&T National hosted by World Number One Tiger Woods. Despite a late wobble, the North Hants boy done good captured his second PGA Tour title in a month while the host languished 14 shots behind, labouring to a tie for 46th place.

What makes the victory that little bit sweeter is that the event is held traditionally on the 4th of July weekend, celebrating America’s independence. There was no home celebrations as the man from little old England ambushed the event and lead from day two to the finish.

It’s been a rollercoaster career for Justin Rose since he burst onto the seen at Royal Birkdale in 1998, when, as a 17-year-old amateur, he finished in a tie for fourth place after holing out from 80 yards at the final hole.

Teenage Rose soaks in the atmosphere after holing out on the 18th in 1998


From there he turned professional almost immediately and proceeded to miss his first 21 cuts on the European Tour. Things could only get better and they eventually did, as the young man earned victories four victories during 2002/2003 to move into the World’s top 35. In 2004 it started to go wrong again and he slipped out of the top fifty and by mid 2005 he wasn’t even in the top 100.

In 2006 Rose started to find some form and ultimately won the Australian masters, his first title for four years. He continued to improve and despite lost in a playoff at the 2007 BMW PGA Championship he moved into the top twenty of the World Rankings for the first time, and by October had reached a new career high of 12 and became the top ranked British golfer.
In his biggest achievement to date Rose won the European Tour Order of Merit title in 2007 after a nailbiting end to the Volvo Masters, which he claimed in a playoff. By now he was the World number 6 and the top-ranked European golfer.

After excelling in his first Ryder Cup, Justin’s form deserted him once more and he has spent the last year trying to recapture his spark and finally find some consistency in his game that would keep him in contention regularly rather than yo-yoing up and down the rankings.

Rose had not won on the PGA tour in 161 starts before the first week of June this year, when he stormed to victory in the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village, when he held off the charge of youngster Rickie Fowler to pop his American cherry. Then, in his next appearance only a matter of weeks later, Rose worked his way into a third round lead of the Travelers Championship at TPC Riverside, before self destructing to finish ninth.

After the holing the winning putt at last month's Memorial


I am more than willing to let him off the hook on this one though. His final round began two hours after England were bitch slapped into submission by Germany at the World Cup. If he is anything like the rest of England, he’d have nervously put away four or five pints during the game and then spent a good portion of his time before hitting the range shouting and swearing, working himself into a mood far removed from the calm and confident golfer that he is.

So a week later, when he set off on his final round at the National with a four shot lead, he was determined to make amends and see this one out. By the turn everything looked Rosey (ha…..) as a superb iron shot left him with a tap in eagle at the ninth hole to lead by five. It was his first eagle of the year, quite a surprising statistic really for someone in the World’s top fifty.

What followed was a typical display of an Englishman giving his supporters palpitations. Rose had not registered a three putt in 275 holes as he walked onto the tenth green, but proceeded to do so at both ten and eleven – like buses ey – as his nearest challenger Charlie Wi closed the gap to just two strokes. For those of you who can’t appreciate the three putt fact, it’s similar to a football team going ten games without conceding and then getting five put passed them in consecutive games.

Anyway, a late surge from Ryan Moore meant that Rose had to make a par at the last to claim his prize and he duly did, tapping in from two feet for the victory. Two wins in three starts after going so long without winning – what did I tell you, buses – he will surely now be spurred on to a great season.

Rose claims his second title in a month at the AT&T National


The hottest form golfer on the planet at the moment, Rose is intending to return to Europe for the rest of the summer to stake his claim for a place in Colin Montgomerie’s Ryder Cup team at Celtic Manor in September, who will be looking to wrestle the trophy back from their American counterparts. Rose was one of the top Europeans at the last Ryder Cup at Valhalla, chalking up three points, including a win against World Number 2 Phil Mickelson in the singles.

Time will tell whether Rose decides to experience another car crash season that sends him plummeting out of the top fifty again, but for the time being he is bang on form, just in time for this month’s Open Championship at St Andrews. Is it time for Justin to capture a major?

If he keeps this up it just might be.