Rose did a little shimmy when his 10-foot par putt on the final hole Saturday swirled in the back side of the cup for a 6-under 65, giving him a one-shot lead over British Open champion Henrik Stenson going into the final round – the medal round – at Olympic Golf Course. This is his 16th worldwide victory across six different continents.
Advertisement
“I’m in a very good position, but there’s an terrible lot of work to be done”, Rose said who hit a hole-in-one on the first day.
In a press conference, Stenson was asked about the back-and-forth play between him and Rose – and the health of his back. Matches now feature two 3-minute periods with cumulative scoring instead of the best-of-three format that could be a snooze.
The world number 12 couldn’t be separated from Stenson, victor of the 2016 Open Championship, over the course of the final 18 holes, needing a sublime pitch on the final hole to set up the winning putt. The pair shared three birdies in the opening five holes as Rose continued to edge ahead. But it was his short game that failed him down the stretch.
The overnight leader was neck-and-neck with Stenson throughout much of the final round but he hit a lovely approach shot to within feet of the pin at the last hole. “It was kind of head-to-head with Justin all day and it was going to come down to whoever finished the strongest and he birdied the last to win it”.
And when his turn came Sunday, he delivered a gold-medal performance worthy of a 112-year wait. Both Jordan Spieth and Dustin Johnson had to bail for Kuchar to even make the Olympic team. So what? Plenty of PGA Tour events week-to-week don’t attract major-caliber fields, and the finishes are usually still exciting.
Sergio Garcia fizzled out of medal contention early on Sunday, but he tweeted before the final round that the final result wouldn’t taint his Olympic takeaway. Then, he hit 7-iron to 15 feet on the downwind, par-5 fifth hole and made that for another eagle.
By the afternoon, the grandstand at the 18th hole was near capacity, and the audience there welcomed the returning players with cheers – particularly when they holed tricky putts to close out their Olympics. The 38-year-old opened with an Olympic record 63 Thursday and held the solo lead for 36 holes. But Fraser’s run came to an end on Nos. He also had two birdies and two bogeys.
As Usain Bolt churned down the Olympic track, his main rival was trying to get in front of a TV monitor to catch a quick glimpse of the race.
Graham DeLaet finished in 20th place at 4-under, and his compatriot David Hearn finished in 30th place at 1-under.
For the rest of the Americans, Bubba Watson (T8) and Patrick Reed (T11) had respectable finishes with Rickie Fowler finishing 37th after a Sunday 74.
“I think it’s unique; more like a Ryder Cup than a major, but I would say it’s more unique than either of those two, ” Rose said.
Advertisement
“The reality is incredible”.
