NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. — Exactly one week removed from a final-round meltdown at Hartford, Justin Rose was tested on the course like he never has been tested before.
Rose, with a one-shot lead over Ryan Moore at the AT&T National yesterday, stood on the 18th tee at Aronimink knowing he needed par to win. Then, as he pulled his driver to the apex of the backswing, some random fireworks erupted from a nearby backyard.
His concentration undaunted, the 29-year-old Brit pummeled his tee shot down the right side of the fairway.
“Yeah, happy Fourth of July,” Rose said later. “I did hear it, but I was committed to the tee shot. It was a big tee shot, a key tee shot.”
Rose from there flipped a sand wedge onto the green, some 20 feet from the hole, and two-putted for the win– his second in five weeks, adding to his victory at the Memorial and erasing the psychological distress of Hartford.
“A lot of questions were being asked of him after last week and I think those were all answered here,” Rose’s caddie, Mark Fulcher said. “I’m unbelievably proud of him.”
Rose’s rehabilitation from the 75 he shot at the Travelers Championship, where he took a three-shot lead into Sunday, actually came two hours after the bitter defeat. He went out to the ninth green, one of the greens he had butchered earlier that day, and rolled some putts there by himself.
Afterward, he phoned Fulcher, who was en route to New York in his car, and told him, “I just went out to the ninth green and rolled a few putts in and I sorted some things out. I feel a lot better. I can’t wait until next week.”
“That goes to show you what this man is all about,” an emotional Fulcher said.
“This was an important day for me,” Rose said. “I knew having not closed out last week it was important for me to do it today. I felt like I really did put into play the lessons I learned at Hartford. I played slower, I was calm and didn’t feel nervous. I felt very much in control of my emotions.”
For Rose, who for the first time after four failed tries won a tournament in which he led entering the final round, “next week” was this week at AT&T, whose defending champion was Tiger Woods.
Woods, however, never was a factor, sputtering to a 4-over finish, which left him tied for 46th place. Despite his poor finish, Woods said he believes he’s close to the top of his game. He told anyone who would listen this week how “close” his game is.
Yet the results completely belied the things that he was telling everyone and you couldn’t help but wonder if Woods is whistling in the dark.
Woods, who shot a final-round 1-over 71, went four rounds without breaking par once — the first time that’s happened to him in a tournament since the 1999 Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill and only the fourth time it’s occurred in his career.
Woods has gone eight consecutive tournaments, dating back to the end of last year, without a win — his longest winless streak since 2004.
Woods has played six tournaments this year without a win and has never in his career gone an entire season without a victory.
Yet with all these negative forces staring him in the face, Woods said he’s “really excited” about his game.
He surely can’t be nearly as excited as Rose, who’s now won two tournaments in a month and is the hottest player in the world.
