While
the eyes of the 2010 Memorial
Tournament at
Muirfield
Village were on the eyes
of Rickie Fowler and Ricky
Barnes, Justin Rose kept patient
and struck when opportunity
knocked.
Rose
won his first PGA Tour event
after shooting a 6-under 66 and
besting Fowler by three strokes.
He finished with an 18-under
270. Fowler finished 15-under.
Bo Van Pelt and Barnes finished
at 12-under. Phil Mickelson,
Ryan Moore and Tim Petrovic
finished at 11-under.
The
European’s three-stroke win was
the largest at the Memorial
since Ernie Els won by four
shots in 2004. Rose, who missed
the cut in 2009, was the runner
up to Kenny Perry in 2008 and
finished fourth in 2004.
“I
was just trying to play one shot
at a time, stay focused and not
get ahead of myself,” Rose said.
“It’s (been) a week where I’ve
stayed patient, the most within
myself, and the most calm. So
for me, it’s a great way to
win.”
Rose
bought his time. He started the
final round four strokes behind
Fowler and slowly inched closer
with birdies on four of five
holes before the turn. Rose
caught Fowler at No. 10 and took
the lead when Fowler
double-bogeyed No. 12.
“I
just think really that 18-hole,
36-hole and 54-hole leads mean
nothing,” Rose said. “I knew I
was in the hunt all week, but I
wasn’t playing golf like I was
in the hunt. I was just in the
moment.”
His
final-round 66 was two shots
better than anyone else Sunday.
He’s the first player from the
British Isles to win
the Memorial and he joins 2006
winner Carl Pettersson as the
only Europeans to win Jack
Nicklaus’ tournament.
Fowler, who held a three-stroke
lead coming into the final
round, struggled with his
driving and could not put
together another bogey-free
round. He drove into the bunker
on No. 10 and hit his tee shot
on No. 12 into the water. His
double-bogey put Rose ahead by
two and he could never recover.
“I
wasn’t hitting as many greens as
I did all week,” Fowler said.
“So that was a little
disappointing. That’s what held
me back a bit. Really, when I
made that bogey on (the second
hole), I hit a perfect putt. So
can’t be mad about that”
He
admitted that the wind played a
factor in his round. After
overnight rain, that left more
than a half-inch of rain of the
course, there were winds gusting
from 15 to 20 miles with 30-mile
gusts from the northwest making
an already tough course tougher.
“The
course played really tough, I
thought, because of the wind,”
Fowler said. “And I made a
couple bad swings, which
throughout the week I was
hitting the ball really well. I
made more bad swings today than
I had in the three days.”
It’s
the second time this season that
Fowler has finished second. He
finished a stroke behind Hunter
Mahan at the Phoenix Open at TPC
Scottsdale back in
late-February.
Barnes, who shot a 10-under
Saturday, shot a 73 and Van Pelt
shot a 69 to move up three
spots.
Mickelson had the most bizarre
shot of the day when he had to
hit his second shot at No. 15
off the golf cart path, which
resulted in a double bogey.
“It
was a crazy hole,” he said. “I
hit a terrible drive, obviously.
After birdying—chipping in on
14, I thought, ‘gosh, if I could
just birdie the house, you never
know what might happen.’ 15 is a
birdie hole. I was thinking
maybe eagle. After that terrible
drive, it kind of dashed my
hopes for winning.”
Tiger
Woods shot even for the day and
6-under for the tournament.
daveseaman@columbuswired.tv
Twitter: @DaveSeaman94
