Rose breaks four-year drought
HAVING gone more than four years without a tournament victory, Justin Rose knew what the naysayers would be whispering if he came up short again.
Which only made his two-stroke victory in tough conditions at the $1.5 million Australian Masters at Huntingdale even more satisfying.
The overnight leader saw his three-stroke advantage evaporate with a triple-bogey eight at the seventh hole.
But Rose was able to regain his composure and play
the remaining 11 holes one-under the card, good enough for a two-stroke win over Australian left-handers Richard Green (69) and Greg Chalmers (73).
Queensland amateur Aaron Pike – the tournament leader for the first two days – was in contention right up until the last hole when his aggressive birdie putt attempt slid into a bunker.
He finished fourth, three shots behind Rose, who had a 73 for a total of 12-under 276.
The Englishman shot to prominence when he finished fourth as a 17-year-old amateur at the 1998 British Open.
He turned professional the following day and endured some tough years before breaking through with four victories in 2002.
Rose, 26, has since gone on to be a solid performer on the US PGA Tour, finishing 47th on the money list this year with five top-10s.
But tellingly, until Sunday his most recent win was at the British Masters in June, 2002.
“I felt a little bit of added pressure this week,” said Rose.
“If I hadn’t quite got over the line it would still have been a positive week but you know that people would have been starting to look at it from a slightly different standpoint – like, ‘why are you not winning?’
“I knew that was the case and I’m delighted to have got the job done.”
The first key moment came at the seventh when Rose’s triple bogey included a penalty drop after his eight iron out of a fairway trap ricocheted sideways off the lip and into the ti-tree.
He responded with a birdie on the following hole.
Rose was also under the pump when his two iron off the final tee went right on a howling cross breeze and finished behind a tree.
Knowing a bogey would be good enough, he aimed a three-iron approach over the hospitality tents 30 metres left of the flag and faded it back perfectly to the heart of the green before completing his par.
“In terms of numbers it was a rollercoaster but what I was really pleased with today was that my emotions didn’t rollercoaster,” said Rose.
“I just stayed very calm, even when I made triple on the seventh.”
Rose became the first non-Australian to don the winner’s gold jacket since Scot Colin Montgomerie in 2001.
Green, the 2004 Masters champion, was thrilled to shoot a bogey-free 69 in the toughest conditions of the week.
In contrast, fellow runner-up Chalmers had a mixed day including a five-putt triple bogey at the ninth, with the last four putts all from inside five feet.
But he finished impressively with a monster 40-foot birdie putt on the 18th.
The runner-up cheque of $153,000 will also come in more than handy for Chalmers after he lost his US Tour card this year and is unsure where he will be playing in 2007.
Pike, the burly 21-year-old amateur from Queensland, was the crowd favourite.
He gave a huge fist pump after holing a bunker shot for eagle on the 14th to move into a tie for the lead with Rose.
But bogeys at the last two holes ended his challenge.
AAP