Justin Rose Rides Late Birdies To Zurich Classic Title
- Dan Hauser
- 27 Apr, 2015
Justin Rose birdies 17 and 18 on Sunday to cap off a rain soaked week and win his seventh PGA Tour title at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
Extensive weather delays on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday forced golfers to play almost 36-holes on Sunday, and Rose played them almost to perfection, holding off Cameron Tringale and Jason Day.
Earlier this year, Rose looked completely lost on the course, and you had to wonder what was going on with a golfer who just two years ago won the U.S. Open. Before the Masters, Rose had finished no better than a tie for 37th in a PGA Tour event in 2015, while missing three cuts.
”Earlier this year it looked impossible to win,” Rose said. ”I’m very happy to have turned my game around.”
Rose didn’t just win in a rain soaked New Orleans, he did it in a dominant fashion. He finishing score of 22-under par 266 is a new tournament record. He also played his final 66 holes bogey-free. He now extends his streak of at least one win in a season to six. That record trails only Dustin Johnson in terms of active streaks. Johnson has won at least once in eight straight seasons.
More importantly, Rose finds himself heating up as we roll into the meat of the season. After his runner up finish and his win in New Orleans, Rose can now look to continue his hot play over the next few weeks that includes the WGC-Match Play this week and The Players Championship next week.
“This is a great shot in the arm of confidence and I just got to keep it going,” said Rose. “It obviously gets me up there in everything I want to be up there in; a boost in the (Official Golf) World Ranking, a boost in the FedExCup, a huge boost in confidence. Now I can target the major championships all the way through the summer without having to chase anything in between. It’s going to be great.”
Despite Rose’s dominating performance over the final 66 holes, it still almost wasn’t enough to get the win. He had to birdie 17 and 18 to hold the lead, then had to watch as Tringale’s eagle chip at 18 came up 18 inches short of forcing a playoff.
“I’m pleased,” said Tringale, who was looking for his first PGA Tour win. ”To finish one back is still a pretty good week.”
Rose played 30 holes in total on Sunday and shot 10-under over those holes. It were those two putts on 17 and 18 though that ended up being the biggest shots of the week.
“As a player, to make the putt exactly when you need to is huge,” Rose said. “I don’t think I’ve made a putt to win a PGA TOUR event outright like that before. That was the first time I’ve had a significant length putt to win.”
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About Dan Hauser
As an avid golfer and sports enthusiast, Dan has had a passion for sports starting at a very young age. Dan’s other passion has always been writing. Since the time he could write, he has always enjoyed sharing information with people and telling stories through writing. In middle school he combined his two loves by joining the school newspaper in the sports department.
