Saturday
Sep172011
Rose by four entering final round at Cog
Saturday, September 17, 2011 at 11:20AM
Writing from Lemont, Illinois
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Last week, Justin Rose and his boyhood pals played four exclusive clubs on Long Island in what he calls the JR Challenge.
Saddled with, as he called it, “a plus-7 handicap and a little bit hung over,” he finished second in the soiree, which took them to Sebonac, National Golf Links of America, the Garden City Men’s Club and Friar’s Head.
This week, he leads by four strokes through three rounds on Cog Hill Golf & Country Club’s stout Dubsdread course. Open to the public, Cog is a people’s country club, without the cachet or stuffiness of the quartet of elite places Rose and his pals slummed at last week. But Dubs fits the 31-year-old Englishman’s game, because he’s playing intelligent golf. If the tournament doesn't come back here, which is a possibility, it'll be his loss along with greater Chicago's.
“My mindset is to hit an aggressive shot to the middle of the green, rather than steer one away from the flag,” Rose said. “There’s a subtle difference.”
One that allowed him to craft a 2-under-par 69 on Saturday, one of only eight rounds in the 60s in the 108th Western Open, a.k.a. the BMW Championship, on a day when it finally warmed up, but with capricious winds of 15 miles-per-hour and more out of the southeast that made the players think.
Watched by many in the gallery of about 25,000 fans, Rose suffered only one bogey, a miscue on the par-3 12th hole. He followed that with a birdie on a difficult par-4 13th, and also had birds on the fourth and fifth holes. Those allowed him to pull clear of Mark Wilson, who faded into a tie for seventh with a 5-over 77 that, but for an exemption from a penalty, could have been two strokes worse.
At 13-under 200 through three rounds, Rose leads Australian John Senden by four strokes, and Bill Haas and Aussie Geoff Ogilvy by five. Webb Simpson, the second-round co-leader with Rose, is fifth at 7-under 206 after a 2-over 73, with PGA Championship winner Keegan Bradley another stroke in arrears.
If the old standard that anyone within five strokes of the leader can challenge holds, then only Senden, Haas and Ogilvy have a shot. Consider Simpson and Bradley long shots, then, if only because once upon a Western Open, Tom Kite came from seven back (in 1986) to win in a playoff, and Macdonald Smith, Tom Watson and Andy Bean were six back with a round to go and won.
Senden, who needs to win to make the International squad for the Presidents Cup, appeared to be shooting himself out of it before he rallied from three bogeys in the first five holes. He birdied four of the last eight for a 1-under 70.
“The wind was blowing,” Senden said. “I just wanted to hang around. I had a couple shots up my sleeve.”
Including a 317-yard drive on the 18th, an approach to eight feet, and a birdie putt on the last, the exclamation point on his 70. That Presidents Cup, which will be played in Australia, appears to be a great motivator.
“To represent the International Team with Greg Norman as the captain, who we idolized as young guys, would be fantastic – and making it to Atlanta would be fabulous.”
Ogilvy is also chasing the Presidents Cup, with even more feeling for it than Senden, because the course is Royal Melbourne.
“It happens to be not only my home golf course, that I grew up right next door to, and I’ve actually got a house that back up onto the course,” Ogilvy said. “It’s a pretty special place.”
He’s 10th in those standings, and projected 26th at the moment in the PGA Tour’s standings. The top 30 advance to next week’s Tour Championship in Atlanta.
Haas is chasing a U.S. berth in the Presidents Cup. He’s 12th in the standings, the top 10 get in, and one of the two wild-cards has already been awarded to Tiger Woods.
“I have a chance, anyway,” Haas said of qualifying outright. “There’s a lot of guys outside the number that have had really strong years that could easily get picked ahead of me, and I’m OK with that because American players are playing great and I pull for the team. But today, I never once thought of the Presidents Cup.”
Haas would be the leader entering the final round but for a double-bogey 6 on the par-4 16th hole.
“That stings a bit,” he said of the double, which began with a tee shot into the bunker on the hill to the right, and continued with a half-shank that put him close to the 17th fairway. He took four more to get down, but felt better about himself after a solid save from a greenside bunker on the last. That could be crucial come Sunday.
“It’s just crazy how it can come down to one shot,” Haas said. “One shot last year, I would have been in the Tour Championship.”
Wilson avoided two shots added to his dismal card when it was ruled he incurred no penalty by leaning on his club while recreating his lie in a bunker on the 14th hole after Justin Rose played from inches away. But the 77, one of the day’s five highest scores, threw him eight behind Rose.
“It was one of those days where I was definitely the bug, and the first two days I was the windshield,” Wilson said.
He’ll need to be an Indy car on Sunday to catch Rose.
– Tim Cronin
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Last week, Justin Rose and his boyhood pals played four exclusive clubs on Long Island in what he calls the JR Challenge.
Saddled with, as he called it, “a plus-7 handicap and a little bit hung over,” he finished second in the soiree, which took them to Sebonac, National Golf Links of America, the Garden City Men’s Club and Friar’s Head.
This week, he leads by four strokes through three rounds on Cog Hill Golf & Country Club’s stout Dubsdread course. Open to the public, Cog is a people’s country club, without the cachet or stuffiness of the quartet of elite places Rose and his pals slummed at last week. But Dubs fits the 31-year-old Englishman’s game, because he’s playing intelligent golf. If the tournament doesn't come back here, which is a possibility, it'll be his loss along with greater Chicago's.
“My mindset is to hit an aggressive shot to the middle of the green, rather than steer one away from the flag,” Rose said. “There’s a subtle difference.”
One that allowed him to craft a 2-under-par 69 on Saturday, one of only eight rounds in the 60s in the 108th Western Open, a.k.a. the BMW Championship, on a day when it finally warmed up, but with capricious winds of 15 miles-per-hour and more out of the southeast that made the players think.
Watched by many in the gallery of about 25,000 fans, Rose suffered only one bogey, a miscue on the par-3 12th hole. He followed that with a birdie on a difficult par-4 13th, and also had birds on the fourth and fifth holes. Those allowed him to pull clear of Mark Wilson, who faded into a tie for seventh with a 5-over 77 that, but for an exemption from a penalty, could have been two strokes worse.
At 13-under 200 through three rounds, Rose leads Australian John Senden by four strokes, and Bill Haas and Aussie Geoff Ogilvy by five. Webb Simpson, the second-round co-leader with Rose, is fifth at 7-under 206 after a 2-over 73, with PGA Championship winner Keegan Bradley another stroke in arrears.
If the old standard that anyone within five strokes of the leader can challenge holds, then only Senden, Haas and Ogilvy have a shot. Consider Simpson and Bradley long shots, then, if only because once upon a Western Open, Tom Kite came from seven back (in 1986) to win in a playoff, and Macdonald Smith, Tom Watson and Andy Bean were six back with a round to go and won.
Senden, who needs to win to make the International squad for the Presidents Cup, appeared to be shooting himself out of it before he rallied from three bogeys in the first five holes. He birdied four of the last eight for a 1-under 70.
“The wind was blowing,” Senden said. “I just wanted to hang around. I had a couple shots up my sleeve.”
Including a 317-yard drive on the 18th, an approach to eight feet, and a birdie putt on the last, the exclamation point on his 70. That Presidents Cup, which will be played in Australia, appears to be a great motivator.
“To represent the International Team with Greg Norman as the captain, who we idolized as young guys, would be fantastic – and making it to Atlanta would be fabulous.”
Ogilvy is also chasing the Presidents Cup, with even more feeling for it than Senden, because the course is Royal Melbourne.
“It happens to be not only my home golf course, that I grew up right next door to, and I’ve actually got a house that back up onto the course,” Ogilvy said. “It’s a pretty special place.”
He’s 10th in those standings, and projected 26th at the moment in the PGA Tour’s standings. The top 30 advance to next week’s Tour Championship in Atlanta.
Haas is chasing a U.S. berth in the Presidents Cup. He’s 12th in the standings, the top 10 get in, and one of the two wild-cards has already been awarded to Tiger Woods.
“I have a chance, anyway,” Haas said of qualifying outright. “There’s a lot of guys outside the number that have had really strong years that could easily get picked ahead of me, and I’m OK with that because American players are playing great and I pull for the team. But today, I never once thought of the Presidents Cup.”
Haas would be the leader entering the final round but for a double-bogey 6 on the par-4 16th hole.
“That stings a bit,” he said of the double, which began with a tee shot into the bunker on the hill to the right, and continued with a half-shank that put him close to the 17th fairway. He took four more to get down, but felt better about himself after a solid save from a greenside bunker on the last. That could be crucial come Sunday.
“It’s just crazy how it can come down to one shot,” Haas said. “One shot last year, I would have been in the Tour Championship.”
Wilson avoided two shots added to his dismal card when it was ruled he incurred no penalty by leaning on his club while recreating his lie in a bunker on the 14th hole after Justin Rose played from inches away. But the 77, one of the day’s five highest scores, threw him eight behind Rose.
“It was one of those days where I was definitely the bug, and the first two days I was the windshield,” Wilson said.
He’ll need to be an Indy car on Sunday to catch Rose.
– Tim Cronin
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