ENGLISH PAIR’S SLICE OF LUCK
Fitzpatrick closes on Ryder Cup spot and Rose finds form for Rio after making cut
From down in the dumps on Friday night to positively chipper come Sunday afternoon. It’s amazing what a couple of good rounds can do for a man at the US PGA Championship.
When it comes to the sub-plots here of the ryder Cup and the olympics, matt Fitzpatrick and Justin rose felt they’d let themselves down after the second round. They’d both finished on two over par and were resigned to leaving the premises following a missed cut.
For Fitzpatrick, it looked particularly costly, with martin Kaymer high on the leaderboard and poised to go past him into the ninth and last automatic ryder Cup slot. For rose, the last thing he needed before heading off to the opening ceremony in rio on Friday was a foreshortened major.
Then rory mcIlroy turned a birdie into a bogey on his final hole on Friday, and American roberto Castro missed a holeable birdie putt on his 18th — suddenly the cut had moved a shot so the English pair made it on the limit.
How they capitalised on their good fortune, as rose shot 66, 68 at the weekend to squeeze into the top 15, while Fitzpatrick followed a 70 with a bogey-free 67. Just to complete a satisfying weekend for the 21-yearold from Sheffield, Kaymer fell from contention in the third round and no other ryder Cup contender made a run. He’s almost there now.
The relief he felt at breaking a run of four missed cuts was obvious. Looking at the gathering of press, Fitzpatrick smiled and said: ‘It’s been a while since I’ve been this popular.’
Last week he resolved to try something different to relieve the pressure of nailing down that ryder Cup place. ‘I had three friends with me and it was great to get away each evening and talk about anything but golf,’ he said.
‘That’s been the problem recently, and I’ve played way too much. I think you all know the reasons why but it’s something I need to look at for next year.’
There’s no reason why Fitz, as he’s known, wouldn’t be a huge asset at Hazeltine. He never showed any fear in becoming the first Englishman in over a century to win the US Amateur Championship, while at two Walker Cup appearances he was clearly one of the outstanding players on show.
rose was equally buoyant. ‘I’d given up on making the cut on Friday so I got what you might term a lovely birthday break, since I turned 36 on Saturday,’ he said.
‘I actually didn’t play very well over the weekend but got absolutely everything I could out of the rounds, and that, as a player, is often more fun.
‘I had a top 25 at The open as well from the wrong side of the draw, so I am really not that far off. It is just about finding that spark now for rio.’ There’s not a pro in the game who’s been more enthusiastic about golf’s olympic return. ‘I just embraced if from the start, and I’m looking at it as a once in a lifetime opportunity because who knows what will happen over the next four years,’ he said. ‘I’m looking forward to the opening ceremony and mixing with the other athletes in the village. When the golf starts it will be business as usual but from Friday to Tuesday I want to absorb as much as I can. ‘What would it mean to win a gold medal? It would be the highlight of my career, or right at the tip end alongside winning the US open.’ Padraig Harrington thinks along similar lines, and what a weekend the three time major champion enjoyed here, as he completed rounds of 65 and 68 for a six under par total that looked likely to earn him a place in the top 10. It’s almost as if getting his unexpected call up for rio following the withdrawals of mcIlroy and Shane Lowry has given the 44-year-old a new lease of life. ‘He played some lovely golf and if he holes some putts he could definitely win a medal,’ said masters champion Danny Willett, his playing partner for the last two rounds.
Willett’s own form is not so clever as he finished well down the field. ‘There’s no getting away from the fact that since a wonderful week in April it’s all been disappointing,’ he said.
The 28-year-old will now work on his game in Florida this week before heading to Brazil.
Scotland’s russell Knox closed with a 69 for a four-under total of 276.
As for the main event, with the prospect of more bad weather to come, the organisers took the unprecedented though sensible decision to play preferred lies in the final round — the first time this has happened in a major.
As it happens, the weather early on was palatable, and so not only did the leaders complete their third rounds before lunch but went out after it for the final one as well.
American Jimmy Walker held a slender one-shot lead over world No 1 Jason Day, who was trying to become only the second man after — who else — Tiger Woods to defend this title successfully since it became a strokeplay event in 1958.
open champion Henrik Stenson, chasing a little history of his own in the form of a second major in the space of just 15 days, began a further stroke behind, alongside the gifted young American Brooks Koepka.