Justin Rose knew quickly that Sunday would not be his day to win the Tour Championship.
“Plan A was chasing Tiger, that wasn’t gonna happen.” He quickly went to plan B and that was to try and salvage the FedEx Cup.
He was in the catbird seat heading into the final 18, tied for second with Rory McIlroy. McIlroy fell apart early, shooting 39 on the front.
Rose was a little better, he was only one-over and still in charge of his fate for the overall prize and the $10 million that went with it.
“It felt like slow death out there,” Rose admitted as he found it hard to hit fairways and really hard to make birdies — he had only one on the front then things got worse on the back. He had three bogeys on the card as he walked off 16 and the FedEx Cup was slipping away, perhaps into Woods’ hands if Rose couldn’t play the last two holes one-under. He parred 17 then knew what needed to be done at 18 and responded with a 358-yard drive that split the middle of the fairway and outran the fairway, barely. He had a decent lie and hit seven-iron from 214 yards out. It was short but took a great bounce forward and settled 30 feet from the hole. It was a $10 million bounce.
His first putt stopped just two inches away leaving the world’s No. 1 an easy tap-in albeit for a not-great 73. Still it was enough for a tie for fourth at six-under.
“I know everyone would liked to have seen him (Tiger) win it,” Rose admitted.
“It’s only fitting the No. 1 player in the world walks off as the FedEx champion,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said.
“Congrats Rosey — you had a helluva season,” Woods said to Rose afterward.
Rose said the day before that winning the FedEx Cup would fill a missing piece of his championship resume.
It did just that.
He won it, barely, but barely counts — $10 million worth.
