Bogeys prevent Rose from keeping pressure on Jordan

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Justin Rose wanted to put pressure on Jordan Spieth, playing in the final group of the 79th Masters on Sunday. He did that by posting birdies on the first two holes to get within three shots of the 21yearold Texan.

“I knew I had to go out there and play a great round of golf,” Rose said. “I knew there was a score out there, especially on the back nine. You knew birdies could be had and I knew if I could play a really good front nine, it could set me up for something pretty special.”

But Rose would bogey the par3 6th hole when his tee shot rolled down the front hill and he couldn’t get up and down. He suffered another bogey at the par4 9th. He entered the back nine five strokes behind Spieth and never made up the ground.

Rose, the 2013 U. S. Open champion, finished with a 2underpar 70 for the day, tying Phil Mickelson for second place in the tournament at 14under.

“No. 6 bit me a little bit,” Rose said. “I hit a great iron shot in there that came up a yard short and did what it always does, rolls all the way down. I didn’t get the ball up and down. Then the momentum really stopped me around 8 or 9. I didn’t get the ball upanddown [ for birdie] on 8 and then 3putted on 9.”

There was no catching Spieth. Not on this day, leaving Rose to try to draw some positives out of his performance.

“Obviously, there’s two ways to look at it,” he said. “You can take that 14under par and I’ll take that next year and I’ll take that the year after and I’ll take it the year after. So I have to take a lot of confidence from that. But you’ve got to play it on the day, too. I felt like a couple of times there were a few moments out there where I could have done better. I’ll learn from that.”

Rose missed a chance for birdie at the par3 16th that might have produced a twoshot swing and put some pressure on Spieth, but he missed the putt. The Englishman would later finish with a bogey at the 18th. In the end, all he could do was congratulate Spieth.

“It’s not an easy game,” Rose said. “Anyone who comes out and has played at the level that he has and how consistently he’s doing it and how easy he’s making it look, yeah, I’m surprised. It really shouldn’t be that easy. You just need to take your hat off and marvel at it and congratulate him because it’s very impressive.”