Tour News
Justin Rose wins the U.S Open at Merion
There was no fixed recipe for Sunday at Merion, no table where appetizers, main course or dessert added up to a certain outcome.
Two double bogies sandwiching a birdie, followed five holes later by a hole-out eagle from the rough kept Phil Mickelson in the hunt. Two six-hole stretches made up of birdies, bogies and one slim par joined Justin Rose to the fray. Thirteen pars and one bogey to start his round might have done the trick for Hunter Mahan, were they not immediately followed by a double-bogey six on No. 15. And star-crossed Aussie Jason Day, opening two strokes better than par over his first 10 holes, closed this U.S. Open as he did this year’s Masters, with too many bogies and no birdies for another excruciating, top-three finish in a major.
As the shadows grew longer, Justin Rose fulfilled the promise inherent in the unabashed jubilation of an 17-year old in 1998. There, at Royal Birkdale, the English teenager holed a long pitch from the rough on the 72nd> hole to finish tied for fourth, suggesting that he would rise to certain prominence. He did, but for reasons he would prefer to forget. Throughout those 21 consecutive missed cuts that started his professional career was forged the determination to succeed as a professional. Rose would win European Tour events, World Golf championships and FedExCup playoff tournaments, and shine for Europe in the Ryder Cup, but he would not win a major until fate called his reservation at Merion.
Click here to see the clubs Rose used to win the U.S. Open at Merion.
From nearly the time that Rose began his professional trek, Mickelson began to match the great Sam Snead in an ignominious fashion: he collected second-place finishes at U.S. Open Championships. Five in fact, in a variety of fashions. He lost to the late Payne Stewart’s final golfing miracle in 1999, twice at Bethpage Black (2002 and 2009) and twice more in the state of New York, 2004 at Shinnecock and 2006 at the famous “I am an idiot” Winged Foot tournament. In a city apparently named for him (Philadelphia), during a week where he proved his worth as a father by flying cross-country twice before teeing off on Thursday, Phil Mickelson added a sixth runner-up finish in the U.S. Open, his second by two fragile strokes, all six by a total of 11 inconsiderate shots.
After crushing a career drive up the center of the fairway, just a few yards shy of the Hogan plaque, followed by an exquisite iron just past the hole on No. 18, Rose nearly chipped in, leaving his birdie effort on the lip. He gave hope to Mickelson, whose own approach to No. 18 from the left rough came up 20 yards shy of the putting surface. Buoyed by the crowd’s chant of “Let’s go Phil,” the left hander from the left coast surveyed every inch of the trajectory between himself and the hole, placed the ball back in his stance, sent Bones, his caddy, to tend the flag, then slid the pitch inches to the side, harmlessly past the jar.
It should be written that the final two hours of a proper major golf championship make the viewing public forget the first three and three-quarter days. The Masters is famous for the saying that its championship does not begin until the final nine on Sunday. Lost among the heroics of the final hours at Merion were the gallons of rain water that saturated the course in the weeks and days leading up to the championship.
Momentarily ignored was Merion’s return to the U.S. Open stage, mere decades after it was relegated to lesser tournaments, shunned by men’s championship golf for being too brief and quirky an experience. Briefly forgotten were the heroics of Charl Schwarzel, Steve Stricker, Hunter Mahan and Luke Donald, replaced by nearly-innumerable scorecards at 6-over, 7-over and higher.
Since 1970, when Tony Jacklin hoisted the trophy named for no one in particular at Hazeltine in Minnesota, great names from England had tried and failed to emulate him. Nick Faldo, Lee Westwood, Luke Donald, Paul Casey and others made valiant runs at the title, but to no avail. In 2013, on No. 13 of the final round, Rose took the lead for good and brought the train into the station. At the awards ceremony, USGA President Glen Nather hung the Nicklaus champion medal around his neck and the dream became reality. “Oh boy,” he exclaimed.
Oh boy, indeed. Philadelphia is now his town.
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News
Photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
GolfWRX is live this week at the Wells Fargo Championship as a field of the world’s best golfers descend upon Charlotte, North Carolina, hoping to tame the beast that is Quail Hollow Club in this Signature Event — only Scottie Scheffler, who is home awaiting the birth of his first child, is absent.
From the grounds at Quail Hollow, we have our usual assortment of general galleries and WITBs — including a look at left-hander Akshay Bhatia’s setup. Among the pullout albums, we have a look inside Cobra’s impressive new tour truck for you to check out. Also featured is a special look at Quail Hollow king, Rory McIlroy.
Be sure to check back throughout the week as we add more galleries.
General Albums
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Monday #1
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Tuesday #1
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Tuesday #2
WITB Albums
- Akshay Bhatia – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Matthieu Pavon – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Keegan Bradley – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Webb Simpson – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Emiliano Grillo – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Taylor Pendrith – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Kevin Tway – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
Pullout Albums
- New Cobra equipment truck – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rory McIlroy – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- New Cobra equipment truck – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Eric Cole’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Custom Cameron putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Matt Kuchar’s custom Bettinardi – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Justin Thomas – driver change – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rickie Fowler – putter change – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rickie Fowler’s new custom Odyssey Jailbird 380 putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Tommy Fleetwood testing a TaylorMade Spider Tour X (with custom neck) – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Cobra Darkspeed Volition driver – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
See what GolfWRXers are saying about our Wells Fargo Championship photos in the forums.
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
GolfWRX is on site this week in McKinney, Texas, at the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson (FKA the AT&T Byron Nelson).
Last year at TPC Craig Ranch, Jason Day ended a five-year winless streak. J-Day is in the field again, as are Jordan Spieth, Tom Kim, and Will Zalatoris.
We have our usual assortment of general galleries, WITBs, and pullout albums for your perusal. As always, we’ll continue to add links to additional albums as they make their way to us from the Lone Star State.
Check out links to all our photos below.
General Albums
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Monday #1
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Monday #2
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #1
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #2
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #3
WITB Albums
- Pierceson Coody – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Kris Kim – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- David Nyfjall – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Adrien Dumont de Chassart – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Jarred Jetter – North Texas PGA Section Champ – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Richy Werenski – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Wesley Bryan – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Parker Coody – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Peter Kuest – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Blaine Hale, Jr. – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Kelly Kraft – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Rico Hoey – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
Pullout Albums
- Adam Scott’s 2 new custom L.A.B. Golf putters – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Scotty Cameron putters – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Ben Griffin playing Maxfli golf ball
See what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans
GolfWRX is live on site this week at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans for the PGA Tour’s one-and-only two-man team event.
As usual, general galleries, WITBs, and pullout albums — including some pretty spicy custom putters and headcovers — await your viewing.
Be sure to check back for more photos from the Big Easy, as we’ll continue to update this page with additional galleries throughout the week.
General Albums
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Monday #1
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Monday #2
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Tuesday #1
- 2024 Zurich Classic – Tuesday #2
WITB Albums
- Alex Fitzpatrick – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Austin Cook – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Alejandro Tosti – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Davis Riley – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- MJ Daffue – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Nate Lashley – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- James Nicholas – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Kevin Streelman – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Rasmus Hojgaard – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Tom Whitney – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- SangMoon Bae – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Daniel Berger – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Rory McIlroy – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Russ Cochrane – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Aldrich Potgieter – WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Steve Stricker WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Drew Brees WITB (Legendary New Orleans Saints QB) – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Derek Carr (New Orleans Saints QB) – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Thriston Lawrence WITB – 2024 Zurich Classic
Pullout Albums
- MJ Daffue’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Cameron putters – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Swag covers ( a few custom for Nick Hardy) – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Custom Bettinardi covers for Matt and Alex Fitzpatrick – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Doug Ghim’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Zurich Classic
- Patrick Cantlay spotted testing a Scotty Cameron blade putter – 2024 Zurich Classic
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Ronald Montesano
Jun 18, 2013 at 6:18 am
I’ll be the first to predict that Phil closes the circle that began in 1999 with Payne at Pinehurst, by winning at Pinehurst in 2014.
reqq
Jun 17, 2013 at 8:08 am
Phil was soooooooo close with soooooo many putts, gotta feel for him. But grats to Justin for his first major!
Ronald Montesano
Jun 16, 2013 at 9:27 pm
He’s had six chances…for a Buffalo guy who watched his Bills lose four straight Super Bowls, I can empathize with Phil. As Rose indicated, all should have respect for Phil Mickelson.
Big Boy
Jun 16, 2013 at 9:06 pm
Phil da Philpper never had a chance….well done Rosey
Lawrence
Jun 16, 2013 at 8:52 pm
Way to grind out the victory Justin!