TIGER RUN ENDS WITH A SPLASH
AFINE closing round of 66 saw Justin Rose improve on his curiously bad record at the Players Championship and also earn a useful haul of world ranking points in a decent start to his month-long mission to overhaul Dustin Johnson at the summit.
The 38-year-old has rarely putted well at Sawgrass — the prime reason why this was just his second top 15 finish in 15 starts — and, if truth be told, he didn’t putt great here either, despite assembling an accomplished six under par round.
‘It could quite easily have been a 62,’ grumbled his loyal bagman Mark Fulcher, and this was no tall tale from the caddy shack given that Rose had five eagle putts and never holed anything over six feet.
‘I holed out well from five feet and in, which indicates to me how my stroke is and then from further out it’s all about the art form of putting, just reading them with the right speed, and I’ve never been very good at that here, finding them grainy and tricky,’ was Rose’s characteristically insightful explanation.
As ever, there was nothing wrong with his long game as he put together a stirring sequence of six birdies in a row from the ninth. ‘I was thinking if I could birdie every hole in to the house I might be able to set some sort of decent target.’
The run came to an end at the 15th, where he left a 20-foot birdie putt short. After a birdie at the 16th he missed from six feet for a two at 17 and then three-putted the last for a bogey that looked likely to cost him a top 10 placing.
On the positive side, two of Rose’s next three starts are at events he has won in the past and where he eyes putting pressure on Johnson. ‘I do think the next month offers a real opportunity,’ he said.
Another player with his eye on the world’s top spot, Justin Thomas, finished with a 66 for 11 under as he continued to improve each day on his opening 73, which left him one behind the early clubhouse Keegan Bradley (66).
Alex Noren made amends for his third-round 77 with a 66 to sign off on 10 under.
Also enjoying himself early on was US Open champion Brooks Koepka who became only the second man ever to register an albatross at the par-five 16th, as his sixiron from 206 yards bounced once and hopped into the hole.
‘You’re aiming a little left of the flag and you push it right and we couldn’t tell where it landed, then everyone started screaming,’ Koepka said afterwards.
It was the defining moment in a fabulous course record-equalling 63, which also included a two on the devilish 17th.
At least it told the chasing pack seeking to catch runaway third round leader Webb Simpson there was a low score to be had.
Somewhat surprisingly, no player in PGA Tour history has ever lost a seven-shot lead with a round to play, which just happened to be the advantage the impressive Simpson enjoyed. It was one thing to shoot 63 while in the zone on Friday but the fact he extended his five-shot advantage with a nerveless 68 on Saturday might have been still more admirable.
Playing steadily, Simpson had one birdie and one bogey through the turn and was still five ahead on 19 under with nine holes to play after draining a tricky five-footer for par on the ninth.
The American bogeyed the 10th but bounced back with a birdie on 11 and steadied the ship with two subsequent pars to stay five shots clear as he approached home.
By then, the roars around Sawgrass were for a charging Tiger Woods, who had got himself to within six shots and into a tie for third coming down the stretch.
However, a bogey on the par-four 14th took the wind out of Woods’ sails and failing to get any shots back on his next two holes, he slipped out of the reckoning when he double bogeyed the 17th after ending up in the drink.
Earlier, Shane Lowry signed off with a 71 to finish on six under par for the event, outside the top 40.
Lowry chalked up five birdies, including three in a row from the 11th, but the prospects of a sub-70 round were undone by an ugly double bogey at the par-five ninth.
Not for the first time over the course of the week, Lowry drove into water and was forced to take a penalty drop. He then found a cart path with his third and required five shots to reach the green.
zGary Hurley closed with a 71 to tie fourth place in the Portuguese Open in Portimao on the Challenge Tour to bank his biggest cheque of the season, €9,600.
The West Waterford golfer finished three shots off the winner, Dimitrios Papadotos of Australia.