Justin Rose began the final round tied with Jason Day for the lead at -16 but while Day, who had to finish most of his third round Sunday morning, hooked his drive into trees lining the left boundary of the second fairway, then on the next swing pulled his shot into a tree, bouncing right back to him ended up with a bogey 6 was looking weary.
After the round he said hot, steamy conditions wore him down over the course of 32 holes. “The early days and the hot days, and just the long days in general kind of finally caught up to me,” Day said. “I played great all week, but this final round just had a lot of mental errors.”
After the round he said hot, steamy conditions wore him down over the course of 32 holes. “The early days and the hot days, and just the long days in general kind of finally caught up to me,” Day said. “I played great all week, but this final round just had a lot of mental errors.”
Rain, wind, fog, thunder, lightning, bright sunshine, hot humid weather, this week had it all testing everyone's patience to the limit.
Meanwhile Rose, 7 years older than Day, perhaps wiser, was looking fit and fresh, and sensing he needed to birdie the final two holes to keep his lead over a charging Cameron Tringale, he pulled it off with aggressive swings and clutch putts for a one-stroke victory, his 7th on the PGA Tour, and a nice one for his sponsor, Zurich.
Rose completed a -7 65 in the rain-delayed third round Sunday morning and closed with a -6 66 at a rain soaked, soft TPC Louisiana for a record score of -22, 266. He has won at least once in six straight seasons, the second-longest streak on the tour behind Dustin Johnson’s eight straight. He’s projected to jump from ninth to sixth in the world ranking this morning.
Rose is coached by Canada's Sean Foley, who teaches life skills as much as technique, and after a slow start to the season with 3 missed cuts, he found his form at Augusta where he finished T2 two weeks ago and carried it with him to New Orleans. He admitted yesterday that he has moved his family to the Bahamas over the new year, and was away from Foley and his normal Florida practice routine enjoying the islands, and it showed in his game.
Tringale looking for his first win birdied the 18th for 65, just a shot behind and our huntin' and fishin' pal Boo Weekley, who led after the first round, finished third at -20 and Jim Herman and Jason Day, T4 at -19.
Canadian scores : David Hearn had a great week, finishing at -18 T6th with rookie Daniel Berger. While Adam Hadwin and Mike Weir missed the cut, Nick Taylor T48 -10 and Roger Sloan was T70 at E.
Now it's off to Harding Park for the WGC World Match Play, a new venue with an exciting new format.. the draw is today at noon...more on that later.
Bryan Angus (notes from BBC Reuters, AP..)
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