Justin Rose received
a text message last week telling him to "go out and be the man
your dad taught you to be." After he finished his round but
before he had won the U.S.
Open on
Sunday at Merion Golf Club, Rose pointed skyward as a nod to his late
father and coach, Ken.
"The
look up to the heavens was absolutely for my dad," Rose said.
"Father'sDay was
not lost on me today. You don't have opportunities to really dedicate
a win to someone you love. And today was about him."
Rose
shot an even-par 70 Sunday, capping it with one of the loveliest pars
he has ever made, to win the U.S. Open by two shots over
PhilMickelson and
Jason Day.
Rose,
32, finished one over par and became the first English player to win
the U.S. Open in 43 years. He shared the experience with the crowd,
mingling with them holding the Open trophy in one hand and a
wicker-basket flag in the other.
Rose's
elation sat in stark contrast to Mickelson's "heartbreak,"
a word he used again Sunday to describe his sixth runner-up finish in
this championship. Mickelson's four-over 74, his highest round of the
week, appeared to prod the 43-year-old toward that most difficult of
resignations.
If
a one-shot Sunday lead, a golf course he loved and a system he
trusted weren't enough to produce the breakthrough victory, what will
be?.
"If
I had won today or if I ultimately win, I'll look back at the other
Opens and think that it was a positive," Mickelson said. "If
I never get the Open, then I'll look back and think that, every time
I think of the U.S. Open, I just think of heartbreak."
For
Rose, the victory might be enough to persuade him to buy a house on
Philadelphia's Main Line. Three years ago he won the AT&TNational at nearby Aronimink, an equally difficult course that many
players say could hold a major as well.
In
the Open, Rose played Merion without a double bogey while tying Day
and Luke
Donald for
the most birdies (15). Rose made consecutive birdies twice Sunday,
including at holes 12 and 13 that briefly made him the only player
under par. But it was a par that ultimately won him the championship.
Rose
took a one-shot lead to the 18th hole, which yielded no birdies on
the weekend. That gave Rose an opportunity if he could just make par.
Rose
split the fairway with his tee shot, which landed near a plaque
commemorating a shot Ben Hogan hit on his way to the 1950 U.S. Open
title. Hogan used a one-iron to reach the green, make par and force a
playoff, which he won.
Rose
hit a four-iron to the back of the green and nearly holed a chip with
a fairway metal. After tapping in for par, Rose wiped away a tear,
then waited in the clubhouse, where he nervously looked at Merion's
historic collection of memorabilia.
"That
image is kind of hard not to escape," Rose said, "that this
was my turn to kind of have that iconic moment, I guess, for me. And
I hit a good four-iron, I felt I did it justice."
Mickelson,
who heard choruses of "Happy Birthday" on Sunday, could
have made this a coronation early. But he lipped a birdie putt at the
first hole, missed a four-footer for birdie at No. 2 and then made
three-putt double bogey at the third.
That
hole, a par-three, played 266 yards into a pretty stiff wind.
Mickelson elected during the Open not to carry a driver.
"I
didn't really have the shot to get back there," he said. "I
needed a driver."
At
the fifth, Mickelson sprayed his tee shot left — "Unbelievable,"
he said — leading to a second double bogey that could have
smothered his chances. Instead, Mickelson followed five holes later
with the shot of the day — surpassing Shawn Stefani's hole in one
at 17 — to regain the lead.
With
75 yards and a wedge in hand, Mickelson holed a shot from a fluffylie in the rough to make eagle and return to even par. With birdie
opportunities coming on the next three holes, Mickelson expected that
to be a launch pad.
It
wasn't. At the 121-yard 13th, which 24 other players birdied Sunday,
Mickelson overcooked a pitching wedge into the back rough. "Too
much club there," he said of the shot, which produced bogey.
Two
holes later, Mickelson hit another poor wedge, coming up short this
time, and made bogey after trying a desperate chip from the green.
Mickelson said he "quit" on the shot instead of
aggressively trying to hit past the hole.
"Those
wedge shots on 13 and 15," Mickelson said, "are the two
I'll look back on."
And
not only those. Mickelson had a number of birdie chances on the
weekend that either hit the cup or just missed the edge. Unlike some
other runner-up finishes, Winged Foot in 2006 notably, Mickelson will
rue missed opportunities rather than chances given away.
"This
one's probably the toughest for me," he said, "because, at
43, and coming so close five times, it would have changed way I look
at this tournament altogether and the way I would have looked at my
record. Except I just keep feeling heartbreak."
Source:
latimes
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