Justin Rose disappoints at Nedbank Golf Challenge
It has just not been his week. The final is already underway, and the Justin Rose challenge has collapsed under its own weight. With the disastrous performances already halfway into the tournament, there seems only one way for the Englishman: downhill.
During round one, the highest-ranked player on the field that day carded a miserly one-over-par 73.
However, it was that disheartening seven-over-par 79 that sealed for Rose his fate at the tournament, the last nail gone in the coffin of his designs for the $1.25 million in prize money.
In round three, he had managed to level the scorecard at 69. However, the five bogeys, especially the one at the last hole, were not enough to save the ‘major’ for him.
Although driven with a hard driving stroke that almost seemed to whack the ball as it arced the five hundred meters, he was unable to avoid the bogey.
This may as well be Rose’s worst career performance yet. The Challenge has been, for the South-African born English golfer, a real horror, with fans struggling to come to terms with the wreck of a performance.
This comes as a huge surprise from the former world number one who had largely, and well-deservedly at that too, been expected to put up a show. Nothing of the sort.
At the moment of writing this article, Rose was well underway his first nine holes, even-parring all with a birdie on the second par-5.
It seems like it would work to save his overall ranking by the end of the tournament, but standing at 8-over-par is unforgivable, given the elite 12-man field he is up against.
Surely the Orlando-based Rose can ‘miracle putt’ a repeat of the September Shot of the Month, 2012. Or maybe it is asking for too much.
So it has been a disappointment. Martin Kaymer of Germany led round three with South Africans Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel close behind, breathing down his neck.
At position four, American Bill Haas and the defending champion and hattrick-hopeful, Lee Westwood, stood poised for the final push.
Westwood’s performance this tournament has left a great deal to be desired, of course.
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