Faldo tipping Rose but he’s cool on Rory
SIR Nick Faldo is backing Justin Rose to bounce back from his Masters misery at the US PGA Championship — but playing down any prospect of a return to the winner’s circle at the majors for Rory McIlroy.
No Englishman has won the US PGA for 100 years, but the most decorated English golfer of all believes there is every chance that dismal drought could end here this week.
Faldo said: ‘I’ve got Rosey as one of my four possible winners alongside Brooks Koepka, Frankie Molinari and Dustin Johnson.
‘This is the ideal course for him, where you have to plot your way around. Justin likes that type of golf. I watched him a couple of weeks ago at Quail Hollow and I thought he played great. He’s a complete golfer. He’s 38 now and it would be a good time for him to snagnag his second major.’
World No 2 Rose, whose se sole success was at the e 2013 US Open, was smarting after missing the halfway cut at Augusta for the first time, but is confident of making amends.
‘I still feel, at this point t of my career, that I’m waiting tors, for my run in the majors, where you claim two or threehree in a short space of time. This course certainly fits my eye,’ he said.
As for the prospect of the first English winner since Jim Barnes in 1919, he said: ‘We must have a good chance. We’ve got six or seven in the top 35 in the world, so we’ve plenty of firepower. We need that bit of lady luck, for the stars to align. I’d love to be the one who pulled it off.’
One of the prime reasons British golfers have struggled in this event is that it was invariably held in sweltering conditions in August. Faldo believes the UK contingent will benefit from the new date.
The first round is expected to get underway this morning with the temperature gauge struggling to get into double digits Celsius.
‘I have a feeling that all those players who competed in similar conditions at the British Masters at Hillside last week are going to benefit,’ said Faldo, who is the lead golf analyst for CBS television.
‘You look at Tommy Fleetwood and this is a good course for him. Matt Wallace and Eddie Pepperell could also do well. They all played last week with three layers on and many of the Americans panic when they have to put one layer on. It could really suit the English lads. There’s a good wave of them.’
Faldo puffed out his cheeks when the subject turned to Rory — and the fact it’s now almost five years since his last major success.
‘I remember saying in 2014 when he got to four and people were predicting he would get 19 majors — hold on a minute,’ said Faldo. ‘Five would have felt humdrum at the timtime but now he’d be ecstaecstatic to get his fifth. I reareally don’t know what will hhappen with Rory this wweek, but I see some nnegatives there.
‘It’s probably going to be a par-fest and I don’t kknow if he’s got the ppatience for such a test. RRory loves it when he’s chacharging or he’s leading but hhe gets deflated when things area not right. ‘There are a few physical issues with his swing that result in the odd bad tee shot and you can’t afford that this week.
‘I don’t like the problems he has with distance control with his wedges. That would really bother me. Imagine hitting it so far down the fairway and then you can’t get a wedge inside 15ft. That must be so disheartening.
‘The bottom line is you have to hit it bang on the number, that’s the real skill in professional golf. Look at Dustin. He went away, worked really hard on his wedge game and his distance control. What a difference.
‘ Rory needs to do something similar. He’s 30 now and he needs to make golf his whole priority for the next five or 10 years. Then he’ll have the rest of his life to catch up on everything else.’