JUSTIN ROSE READY TO GIVE STRUGGLING TOM LEWIS SOME ADVICE

FROM THE DAILY TELEGRAPH WEBSITE
By JAMES CORRIGAN
Justin Rose wants Tom Lewis to know he is not the first boy wonder to have embarked on a dramatic fall and has offered to help his young countryman.

Earlier today, Lewis was six under after 14 holes at the Open qualifier at Sunningdale and seemed almost certain of a return to the major where, two years ago, he set an amateur record by shooting a first-round 65 to lead.

However, Lewis played the remaining 22 holes in eight over to finish well down the 79-man field chasing the nine berths at Muirfield.

For Lewis, pictured right, this was all too familiar. He has appeared to have left his desultory form behind twice in the last month, in Austria and last week in Munich, when firing an opening 63 and 65 respectively.

Yet he self-imploded both times, even missing the cut at the BMW International last Friday after a second-round 78.

Since winning his third event as a professional in 2011, Lewis has failed to record a top-10 and looks in danger of losing his European Tour card.

Rose, who has confirmed that he will withdraw from the AT and T National this week, famously missed 21 cuts in a row after turning pro following the 1998 Open.
At Birkdale, he had finished fourth as a 17-year-old amateur. He recovered from that nightmare, beginning to forge a garlanded career which was capped two weeks ago by the US Open title.
Now he is willing to give Lewis the benefit of that experience.
“I like Tom a lot and I’d like him to know that my door is open to help him out,” Rose told Telegraph Sport. “Maybe, I could just reassure him and tell him what I learnt.
“Tom shot 65 in the Open, won his third event as a pro and I, like everyone else, thought 'wow, this kid is seriously good’.
"And Tom is seriously good. But this is a hard game which will eat you up if you let it.”
Paul Casey, the former world No 3, would testify to that. He also fell short at Sunningdale, a 71 and a 70 leaving him on two over, the same mark as Lewis.
Casey now requires heroics in the next three weeks to sneak into Muirfield via the back door – or else the player who finished third just three years ago will miss his first Open in 12 years.
The nine who did qualify included England’s Oliver Fisher and Richard McEvoy as well as Scotland’s Scott Jamieson and Northern Ireland’s Gareth Maybin.