Rose has to rely on final-hole birdie just to avoid early exit
Hero of 1998 Open only just survives the cut Willett bounces back from a double bogey
The hope for Justin Rose was that this would be the year where his Open journey finally came, in his words, “full circle”. Two decades on from the performance in which he announced himself to the sport, Rose the man would finally outdo Justin the boy.
The reality is somewhat more chastening. Rather than emulating his teenage glory, when he finished fourth as a 17-year-old amateur at Royal Birkdale in 1998, Rose has this week struggled when the weight of English expectations, the hopes for a first Open winner in 26 years, have weighed most heavily upon his shoulders.
He had arrived at Carnoustie with a claim to being the most consistent in the game and the knowledge that he was heading towards being the world’s highest-ranked player. He now enters the weekend knowing that he has got this far only by the tightest of margins, and that he would have been on a plane home this morning if it were not for a gutsy sunset putt on the 18th hole.
At four shots over par, Rose was due to miss the cut as he strode down the final fairway. On the 17th, his troubles had been summarised by a putt for birdie which barely glanced at the hole, let alone flirted with it.
But at the second time of asking, and at the last possible second, the engine kicked back into gear.
“Right now my thoughts are that I am delighted,” he said. “Twenty minutes ago, I was not very delighted. That birdie was important for me to be in it for the week.”
It was at last a moment to savour for Rose, who celebrated with a relieved pump of the fist, before signing for a two-over 73.
Until then, his most notable act at this year’s tournament had been an unedifying outburst at a posse of photographers during an openinground 72. Rose had not struck a single birdie on the first 17 holes yesterday, and had produced bogeys on the fourth, 10th and 13th.
“It was a pretty miserable day,” Rose said. “This afternoon was an opportunity to score well.”
Although Rose eventually survived, his difficulties have shifted those English hopes onto Tommy Fleetwood and even Danny Willett, a man reborn after two years of anguish following his Masters victory in 2016.
Willett’s second-round 71 was less impressive than the opening day 69 which left him two shots under par, but there was more encouragement for a man who was not so long ago on the verge of quitting the game.
Along with the putting, which yielded three birdies, there was a telling demonstration of mental resilience from Willett. A doublebogey on the 12th had threatened to sabotage his momentum, yet Willett found his composure in the rain to shoot back-to-back birdies on the 14th and 15th.
“We were moving pretty well,” said Willett, who has remodelled his swing since he started working with Rose’s swing coach at the PGA Championship last year. “We got lucky, the weather settled down.”
Matthew Southgate, another Englishman who had impressed on the opening day, goes into the weekend at one shot over and within touching distance of the chasing pack. Joining him there is Eddie Pepperell, who was initially scheduled to be here as a pundit for the BBC but had to change his plans after qualifying to play in the tournament with a second-placed finish at the Scottish Open.
Elsewhere, an unenjoyable week for Ian Poulter came to a deflating end as he shot two double bogeys and one triple in a round of 81.
Poulter was last weekend branded an “a---hole” by a marshal at Gullane, and left Carnoustie having shot 12 over par across two disappointing days.