Sunday, March 11, 2012

BUBBA BLOWS IT - JUSTIN ROSE WINS WGC-CADILLAC CH/PIONSHIP

 Justin Rose with the WGC-Cadillac Championship Trophy. Picture by courtesy of Getty Images(c).

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Justin Rose overcame a string of challengers - and Doral's Blue Monster course at Miami - to claim the biggest victory of his career at the WGC-Cadillac Championship on a dramatic day’s golf.
A closing round of 70 for a 16 under par aggregate total gave Rose his fifth European Tour title at the second of this season’s World Golf Championships.
The 31 year old beat American left-hander Bubba Watson (74) by a single stroke and World No 1 Rory McIlroy (67) by two, in the process leaping back into the top ten of the Official World Golf Ranking, to seventh place.
A bogey at the last gave Rose a nervous wait when Watson, playing in the final group behind him, hit his second shot from the rough to nine feet. But his birdie putt slid past the hole, and Rose was able to breathe a huge sigh of relief.
The triumph is also a huge boost for Rose’s hopes of reclaiming a Ryder Cup berth, having missed out on the 2010 contest at The Celtic Manor Resort.
Rose said: “There’s been a lot of hard work going on in my game, and it’s paid off – but Bubba’s two shots to 18 had me sweating there.
“These moments are incredibly sweet – they are few and far between as a golfer. My son always asks if I’ve won the trophy before, and 90 per cent of the time you have to say ‘No’.
“For this little beauty of a trophy to show up on my mantelpiece so early in the season is definitely a fantastic feeling, and it sets up a very exciting year for me now.”
McIlroy teed off almost certainly thinking he faced too much of a deficit, with eight shots to make up.
Yet after an outward 33 he got up and down from sand for birdie at the tenth, and holed out from the sand for an eagle at the 12th.
Suddenly, he was only one behind, but a bogey on the 14th hole for the second day running left him a mountain to climb again and, with his chances fading, he dropped another shot on the last after finding a tough lie at the back of the green.
“It’s been another good week,” said the 22 year old from Holywood near Belfast. “This is my fifth event of the season, and my fifth top five.
“It feels like every time I tee it up, I have a chance to win. Now I’m looking forward to three weeks off to prepare for The Masters.
“I’m feeling more and more comfortable going in these type of situations. Last week [at the Honda Classic] I felt pretty comfortable with the lead. On the back nine today I felt pretty good, as well. It’s a shame I couldn’t finish it off, but you can’t win them all.”
South African Charl Schwartzel and Swede Peter Hanson tied for fourth place after carding respective rounds of 68 and 71.
“It was a good week’s work, and it was fun to play with Justin,” said Hanson. “I played very well. I felt on the back nine, I thought if I could stay close to him I was going to get close to winning, but I three-putted the 13th from maybe 30 feet, and that kind of killed my round a little bit.”
Schwartzel, who defends his Masters Tournament title at Augusta next month, was pleased to have given himself a chance of victory after starting the final day eight shots back.
“A 68 in these conditions, I think that’s very decent,” he said. “At least I gave it a run. I just thought standing on the 13th tee that if I can get it to maybe 15 or 16 under, I might have an outside chance. So that was the thought process, and I got close, but in the end I came up just short.”
Watson led by three overnight and had a two-putt birdie on the first, but he threw the tournament wide open with a hat-trick of bogeys from the third hole.
He was in the water there and again from the fifth tee, and Rose’s birdies at the first and fourth holes gave him the lead for the first time.
He then bogeyed the sixth, however, and Keegan Bradley became favourite when he established a two-stroke advantage after seven holes.
However, the US PGA Champion took bogey 6s at the eighth and tenth holes, where he four-putted, and Rose became the man to catch again after further birdies at the tenth and 14th holes.
Watson caught him by suddenly finding form with birdies at the 11th and 12th, but he was bunkered on the next before carding four successive pars to set up a dramatic finale.
World Number Two Luke Donald of England finished in a tie for sixth place on 12 under par after signing off with a round of 69.
He said: “It’s been a bit of a slow start to the year for me, so it’s nice to get back in the mix and I obviously did a lot of good things this week. I don’t think this particular course suits my game, so to come here and have a chance of winning is a very positive step.”
Tiger Woods retired after 11 holes with a left knee injury.

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LEADING FINAL TOTALS
Par 288 (4x72)
Players from US unless stated
272 Justin Rose (England) 69 64 69 70.
273 Bubba Watson 70 62 67 74.
274 Rory McIlroy (N Ireland) 73 69 65 67.
273 Charl Schwartzel (S Africa) 68 69 70 68, Peter Hanson (Sweden) 70 65 69 71.
276 John Senden (Australia) 76 67 68 65, Luke Donald (England) 70 68 69 69
277 Steve Stricker 69 70 69 69, Bo Van Pelt 73 65 70 69, Matt Kuchar 72 67 66 72, Keegan Bradley 69 67 66 75.
SELECTED TOTALS
279 Graeme McDowell (N Ireland) 75 67 67 70, Adam Scott (Australia) 66 68 71 74 (T13).
282 Robert Rock (England) 75 70 68 69, Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 68 68 75 71, Martin Laird (Scotland) 72 73 66 71, Hunter Mahan 71 72 65 73 (T24).
283 Lee Westwood (England) 76 67 68 72 (T29).
285 Darren Clarke (N Ireland) 74 74 68 69 (T43).
288 Paul Casey (England) 76 71 68 73 (T51).
293 Ian Poulter (England) 76 77 71 69, Sergio Garcia (Spain) 75 74 68 76, Paul Lawrie (Scotland) 70 74 72 77 (T60).
300 Simon Dyson (England) 74 72 73 81 (72nd).

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'I've learned the hard way,' says Justin Rose
REPORT FROM THE US PGA TOUR WEBSITE
By Larry Dorman, PGATOUR.COM
DORAL, Florida -- It was a little jarring to hear Justin Rose talk about getting old. Even if he was joking -- sort of -- delivering the line with a wry smile lifting the corner of his mouth. Old? His baby face still resembles that of the 17-year-old (South African-born) kid who grew up in London, a wedge in his hands left of the 18th green at Royal Birkdale, holing a pitch that brought the crowd to its feet and gave him a tie for fourth in the Open won by Mark O'Meara.
But that was last century, 1998. Here he was on Sunday night, looking around the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship trophy and over the edge of the table at his curly-haired, three-year-old boy, Leo, yelling, "Daddy, daddy," as he tried to scamper out of the reach of his mom, Kate -- who was closing on him.
Rose had just finished doing some very impressive closing of his own, shooting a final-round 70 to come from three strokes behind for his fourth US PGA Tour victory in the past 20 months. He did exactly what he had to do, plotting his way around the TPC Blue Monster course, intelligently playing the dangerous par-4 18th for a bogey 5, which was all he needed to win.
Rose has now won more in that span than anyone on Tour, and he was asked how he's been able to do it.
"Getting old," he said, quickly adding, "31 now. I don't know, just kind of having learned the hard way a little bit. I've certainly had my chances in the past, as well. It's kind of nice to get a little bit of momentum and confidence going. I think it's probably a confidence thing.
"When I do get into contention now, I believe I can go ahead and close it out."
He certainly can, and did, on a blustery Sunday at the TPC Blue Monster. He began the day tied with Keegan Bradley at 14 under, three strokes behind the 54-hole leader, Bubba Watson. With birdies at the first and fourth holes, he closed the gap on Watson and was tied with him as he stood in the fifth fairway while Watson was bogeying the fourth.
As Watson was struggling off the tee, hitting no fairways on the front nine and shooting 39, Rose kept the pressure on by birdieing the par-5 10th, to get to 16-under and take the lead for the first time -- by a stroke over Bradley and Watson.
His play at the 14th was textbook: 323-yard drive, centre cut, a 52-degree wedge from 135 yards to 5-feet, and the putt for birdie that put him ahead for good.
Only four players hit their approach shots closer than Rose did this week, he was in the top 10 in both greens in regulation and putting average. None of this would come as a surprise his swing coach, Sean Foley.
Earlier in the week, when Foley was asked to rate who among his stable of golfers -- excluding Tiger Woods -- was striking the ball best, he pointed to Rose without any hesitation, citing his confidence as the key.
You can sense by the way Rose is carrying himself these days that he knows he is on to something. On Saturday night, he openly talked about liking his position going into the final round. After showing on Sunday just why he liked it so much, Rose talked about where he thinks he's headed.
But first a little on where's been. When he spoke of learning "the hard way a little bit," it was a major understatement borne of experience. He turned professional at 17, the day after winning the Silver Medal at Birkdale. He learned the hard way a lot. The hard way is missing 21 consecutive cuts at the start of his pro career, going his first four years without a victory, and not winning in the U.S. until 2010.
But with that breakthrough victory at the Memorial Tournament in 2010, Rose's career took off. A few weeks later he won the AT and T National at Aronimink Golf Club, outside Philadelphia. At the end of last year he won a Playoff event, the BMW Championship, at Cog Hill in Lemont, outside Chicago.
Sunday, on another big stage in Miami, he won his first World Golf Championships event.
That sort of progression would put a bounce in just about any golfer's step, especially one who has paid the sort of dues Rose has. And though he remains essentially unaffected by the trappings of success, Rose is nonetheless brimming with the kind of confidence that breeds more of it.
"No doubt about it," he said. "If you look at the tournaments I've won, Jack's tournament, Tiger's tournament, a Playoff event over here and now a World Golf Championships, the progression is really, really nice. The only thing that really is the next level up is a major."
And here's where all the experience comes in. Rose does not plan to get drawn into the "Best Player Without a Major Championship" trap by talking about how he intends to focus only on the four events with that designation. He realizes where that can lead because he already bore the heavy yoke of expectation when he was a teenager.
"Not to say that I'm at that stage in my career where I'm only focusing on the majors," Rose said. "I think there's a lot more for me to do in the game than to get to that point. But no doubt, I feel my game is getting ready for that.
"But you know, you've got to not maybe put too much emphasis on the majors. I just have to keep preparing well and keep doing what I'm doing at the moment and hopefully you just put yourself in the right situation at the right time."

Tiger Woods' future is back in the melting pot

MORE FROM THE US PGA TOUR WEBSITE
Justin Rose expected a moment like this, posing on the 18th green of the famed TPC Blue Monster at Doral with a World Golf Championship trophy in his hands. It's the rest of the script that made Sunday so surprising.
The biggest charge came from Rory McIlroy, eight shots behind until he crept within one of the lead late in the round.
The early departure came from Tiger Woods, who muddied his Masters future by limping off the course after 11 holes with soreness in the left Achilles tendon, the one that caused him to miss two majors last year.
Bubba Watson went from a collapse on the front nine, when he lost his three-shot lead in four holes, to a clutch shot on the final hole when he hit a bullet of a 4-iron out of the palm trees to 9 feet from the cup that put one last scare into Rose.
All that drama, and Rose didn't realise he had won until he was on the practice range and heard nothing.
Watson missed the birdie putt.
Rose closed with a 2-under 70, a score he didn't think would be nearly good enough to win. Ultimately, all he knew about -- or cared about -- was winning the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship.
"I've been very focused on seeing this whole Florida Swing as like a body of work, and not really trying to put too much focus on any individual tournament," he said. "I kind of knew I was playing well, and if I just kept out of my own way for the most part and kept thinking well and doing the right things, I had a feeling something good might happen.
"For this little beauty to show up on my mantle place so early in the season," he said, pointing to the blue trophy beside him, "definitely a fantastic feeling. It sets up a very exciting year."
It was a day of endless drama at Doral.
Sergio Garcia hit four balls into the water at the par-4 third hole and made a 12. Paul Casey made a hole-in-one on the 13th hole. Rose had to make up a three-shot deficit on Watson at the start of the round, and when he made the turn, he found himself two shots behind PGA champion Keegan Bradley, who then shot 41 on the back nine.
Through so much commotion, Rose never felt steadier
He seized control with a 52-degree wedge that settled 5 feet away from the hole for a birdie on the 14th that gave him a two-shot lead. He closed with a bogey from the back bunker on the 18th, but not before watching his sand shot roll off the green and trickle toward the water, though never in serious danger of going in.
"It was all about controlling what I could control," said Rose, who finished on 16-under 272 and earned 550 FedExCup points and $1.4 million. "I kind of knew I got into the lead -- it's hard to ignore it out there. And from there, I knew it was just a matter of closing it out."
Watson didn't hit a fairway on the front nine and did well to shoot 39. He bounced back with birdies, and gave himself an unlikely chance at a playoff with a remarkable shot, one of many he hit at Doral this week.
"That's the kind of thing Bubba does," Rose said. "He can look out of position on a hole and just hit sort of a miraculous shot."
For Woods, his future is a mystery.
"I felt tightness in my left Achilles warming up this morning, and it continued to get progressively worse," Woods said in a statement. "After hitting my tee shot at 12, I decided it was necessary to withdraw. In the past, I may have tried to continue to play, but this time, I decided to do what I thought was necessary."
This is the same Achilles tendon he injured a year ago at the Masters while hitting a shot from under Eisenhower's tree on the 17th hole of the third round. It wound up forcing Woods to miss three months and two majors.
This time, Tiger was lifting his left leg and flexing his angle, even after changing his shoes at the turn. The limp became more pronounced until he blasted his tee shot on the 12th, shook hands with Webb Simpson and rode off in a cart.
Woods said he would have it evaluated to determine the scope of the injury.
McIlroy holed a bunker shot for eagle on the 12th hole and pulled within one shot of the lead with a birdie on the 16th hole, but he closed with a bogey and a 67 to finish alone in third.
It was a day that left little doubt about McIlroy's spot atop the world ranking. Just like Woods in previous years, McIlroy showed he could never be counted out with an array of splendid shots -- most of them from precarious spots in the bunker -- and threatened to win.
Rose was oblivious to all this.
He opened with two birdies through four holes, which was enough to catch Watson, who looked out of sorts all day.
Watson didn't hit a fairway on the front nine, and only one tee shot managed to stay inside the bunkers that frame the fairways. He was in the water twice, once in a canal on the fifth hole that not many knew were there. He shot a 39 on the front nine, which included three putts outside 8 feet to limit the damage.
It was like watching NASCAR. Watson would have looked more comfortable in his General Lee stock car he recently bought.
What was he thinking?
"I'm thinking I'm not playing very good," Watson said.
Still, he showed remarkable resiliency to give himself a chance at the end.
Watson wasn't the only player who faltered. Bradley opened with an eagle, tied for the lead with a wedge into 3 feet for birdie on the fifth, then rolled in a 12-foot birdie at No. 7 that gave him a two-shot lead.
Bradley came undone with bogeys on the par 5s, even though he was around the green with his second shot on both of them. On No. 8, his ball buried so deep in the grass behind the green -- he called for a ruling to see if it had plugged -- that he purposely played 20 feet away from the flag, knowing it would roll off the green. He failed to get up-and-down.
Then, he three-putted from about 6 feet on the par-5 10th, turning a birdie chance into bogey.
"I didn't play that bad," Bradley said. "Just some really strange putts, and then I just kind of limped in."

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