Is it possible to win a major golf tournament without actually playing well? Justin Rose appears determined to find out.
It is a wonderfully audacious experiment. OK, define well. Point number one: a score of 69 under pressure around Pebble Beach and ten under par after three rounds of a US Open is not just well, it’s flaming brilliant.
Yet in conventional terms, ‘well’ means straight off the tee, straight down the middle, greens in regulation, short game perfectly measured, putting smartly and accurately to finish.
He may not be playing well by conventional terms, but Justin Rose is still close to the top
The Englishman is one shot off the lead at Pebble Beach, currently held by Gary Woodland
Rose is honouring that last part of the deal, at least. Winning this competition at Merion, Pennsylvania, in 2013, Rose had 26 single putt finishes across 72 holes. He is on 34 here already with 18 holes remaining. His entire round might be described as an elegant scramble.
Every now and then he would break up the monotony of this tightrope walking with a stunning iron or an exquisitely executed par three; but he had a plan, and he was sticking to it. It just wasn’t one that anyone had seen before; certainly not from him.
That Rose was able to stay in touch with tournament leader Gary Woodland, in front by one after 54 holes of a major for the first time in his professional career, says much about his powers of recovery. Woodland’s game has been the opposite of his these last three days.
Powerful, mostly straight, when he made bogey on the eighth, it was the first blemish on his scorecard since the ninth hole of his opening round, Thursday. It was a big, bruising performance from a player who was considered much as Brooks Koepke is now, when he first came on tour. He was a heavy-hitter, he was strong, he was physically imposing.
Gary Woodland is sitting at 11 under par, with Justin Rose just behind and a few not far off
The difference is Koepke has converted those advantages into major wins – and may do again here, stalking the leaders as he was yesterday – while Woodland has fallen short, despite his promise. This was the sixth time he had led a tournament at the start of the first day; the first he still lead by the end of it.
Seasoned observers could not contain their surprise, particularly as the most audacious save of the day was his, too. Woodland could easily have surrendered the lead on the par three 12th. He missed the green and his ball buried itself in deep rough, on the uphill bank of a bunker.
Rose left himself nine feet for birdie, arguably his shot of the day. Woodland, his ball close to unplayable in any traditional sense, shanked it out, across the green, into the light rough on the perimeter. It was still his play. As Rose imagined a two, maybe three shot swing, Woodland holed his chip. It may prove the shot of the championship, if he wins. Rose made birdie, nervelessly.
By now, it was playing like a matchplay round, despite the massing, chasing pack, and the mighty names therein. Matt Kuchar – who may currently have the unenviable title of best player never to win a major; Koepke, looking for a third straight US Open title, the first since Willie Anderson in 1905; Rory McIlroy, who could yet be the biggest threat if only he can unlock the key to the par fives here; Louis Oosthuizen who has won one major and finished second in all the others and made three birdies on the turn in a hellish stretch between 15 and 17 yesterday.
Rory McIlroy is still in the hunting pack, but has to unlock the key to
