The Joy of golf: Rose wins big on the most thorny of courses

Joy Chakravarty 15:29 04/07/2014
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  • Enjoys the challenge: Some of Rose's biggest tour victories have come at the world's trickiest courses.

    When Justin Rose battled through for his first win after last year’s US Open at the Quicken Loans National on Sunday, one fact about him absolutely jumped out of the record books and hit you – the quality of the golf courses on which he has won his six PGA Tour titles.

    The Congressional win last week stacks up alongside Merion, where he won the US Open; Doral, the course where Rose claimed the WGC-Cadillac in 2012; Muirfield Village, where he triumphed at The Memorial in 2010; Aronimink, where he landed his previous National, and Cog Hill, where he lifted the BMW Championship.

    To that list, you can also add Valderrama, the site of his Volvo Masters victory on the European Tour.

    That’s as good a collection of classic golf courses that you can get.

    They are all worthy of hosting majors, and they have proved an excellent test of a players’ abilities.

    Rose's latest victory was set up by his superb iron play and putting, but the real strength of his game is how well he drives the golf ball.

    You’ve obviously got to have all parts of your game clicking to win tournaments, but the key to doing well on any of the above courses is avoiding the rough, especially off the tee, and Rose has been exceptional with the driver for the past four-five years.

    It will also give him a huge boost ahead of the Open Championship at Royal Liverpool in two weeks, another golf course where par is a good score and players have to grind it out to be in contention.

    With the usual pre-tournament favourites – Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy – struggling to find their form, Rose could be the man to watch at Hoylake.

    The new cool thing in golf

    The much talked about thing in golfing circles these past couple of weeks is the ice-bucket challenge.

    If you are on any of the social media sites, I am sure you would not have missed stars from both the PGA and LPGA Tour pouring ice water over themselves, and then posting the video and challenging another player.

    If the player who has been dared does not accept the challenge within 24 hours, he has to donate $100 to the charity chosen by the player who challenged him.

    It’s not fully established, but the first golfer to be dared is supposed to be Rickie Fowler, who set the chain in motion among the players by asking his good friend Keegan Bradley to partake in the next video.

    It has since spread like wildfire through the LPGA, with Stacy Lewis, Michelle Wie, Lydia Ko, Jessica Korda and Suzann Pettersen among those who have accepted the dare.

    The latest to join in on the action is Ian Poulter, but what is more interesting is that he dared Tiger Woods next.

    It’s been more than 72 hours since then, but the American is yet to respond.

    Good news for Cowboys fans

    Dallas Cowboys fans can expect their star quarterback Tony Romo to turn up for pre-season without being distracted by golf.

    Romo, one of the most famous ‘other-sport’ golfers in the US, plays to plus handicap (+0.3 according to his home club, Dallas National Golf Club), and has seriously pursued the game he is extremely passionate about.

    In fact, Romo came close to qualifying for the US Open in 2010, when he was in contention after shooting a 69 in the first round of the qualifiers.

    However, Romo is not playing golf since the first of his two back operations in January 2013.

    Romo told Dallas Morning News: “It’s not just golf. It’s a way you live life. I don’t think about it as (giving up) golf. You want to give yourself the best chance to succeed on the football field.”

    Hanson's ace makes for a happy home

    When Peter Hanson made a hole-in-one on the second hole of the Congressional Country Club during the third round of the Quicken Loans National, chances are that a fan, Arline Deacon, will remember it more than the affable Swede.

    That’s because of the brilliant idea of sponsors Quicken Loans to reward a fan by paying their mortgage for a full year in case of a holein- one.

    Arline’s name was picked out in a random draw and thanks to Hanson, she will not have to bother about nearly $12,000 (Dh44,000) of her students loan this year.

    Sponsors offer a lot of goodies for professionals for such a feat, but this is perhaps the first time it has benefitted fans and it resulted insuch positive PR, Quicken Loans are now going to take it to every event on the PGA Tour.

    Stat of the Week

    9 – titles French Open defending champion Graeme McDowell has won on the European Tour, and all nine have come in different countries.

    Quote of the Week

    “Last year was the second time I’ve been the honorary chairman of the Presidents Cup. The United States won both times. I’m just saying!” – US President Barack Obama during a ceremony at the White House for the Presidents Cup teams.

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