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Justin Rose doesn’t crumble

Justin Rose reacts after sinking the winning putt on 18. (Michael Bryant / Staff Photographer)
Justin Rose reacts after sinking the winning putt on 18. (Michael Bryant / Staff Photographer)Read more

All you can ask from the final round of a golf tournament is a little drama. Trauma is an entirely different matter.

It was fun to watch Ryan Moore make a late run at leader Justin Rose on the back nine at Aronimink Golf Club. It would have been cruel to root for Rose to blow a PGA tour title on the second Sunday in a row. It's the difference between catching lightning bugs and pulling wings off flies.

The drama/trauma began on the ninth hole. Rose, who started the day 10 under par and sitting on a 4-stroke lead, had just bogeyed the par-3 eighth. He was right back at 10 under and, no doubt, hearing echoes all the way from Hartford, Conn. A week earlier, Rose had blown a 3-stroke lead on the final day of the Travelers.

That is a very tough thing to put behind you. Rose stepped up to the par-5 ninth hole, shook off the whispering in his head, and delivered his first and only eagle of 2010. It was a moment of triumph over his own psyche for the cheerful 29-year-old Englishman.

Then he bogeyed the next two holes and the whispers became screams, bouncing off the ancient, indifferent trees.

Rose was right at 10 under again. He had opened a door for the likes of Moore, Charlie Wi, and Jeff Overton, and a trapdoor under himself.

"From that point on," Rose said, "it was a bit of a grind coming in."

It should be noted right about here that the drama would have been more riveting if it had featured Tiger and Phil, Furyk and Els. This was a little like watching your favorite movie with different actors performing the familiar roles. Indeed, with Woods bombing out of his own tourney and other stars absent, the gorgeous old golf course was the biggest name onscreen.

Aronimink proved itself worthy of hosting a major, although it will take the better part of a decade for either the PGA or the U.S. Open to find its way to Newtown Square. Maybe by then, Rose and Moore will be the household names. Maybe by then, Woods will have found his short game.

And it ought to be noted, as well, that there wasn't a lot of truly memorable golf played by the principals in Sunday's finale. Rose's eagle was the only one of the day. Otherwise, he played a solid but unspectacular round. Wi, tied for second after three rounds, shot 1 under in the final. Overton was 3 under on the day.

In brutal heat, on a tough course, they were good. Only Moore was very good. Playing ahead of Rose, he couldn't help noticing those back-to-back bogeys on 10 and 11.

"I was keeping an eye on things," Moore said. "I don't do it necessarily on purpose. It's kind of hard to miss. It's right there in your face on most of the holes."

Every golfer has heard the dialogue that had to be going on in Rose's head. Whether it's a shot to win a bet with your brother-in-law or to hold on to a PGA title, the gist is about the same. It's about controlling emotions and remaining poised as the pressure mounts.

"My goal was to get to 8 [under] and post 8," Moore said. "Feel like that would be a pretty solid spot to be in and see what happens. Justin played really good, solid golf today. He won the golf tournament. I did everything I could to make him think about it."

Moore birdied 13: 7 under. He birdied 16: 8 under. Then he birdied 17: 9 under. Rose now had zero margin for error. One more bogey, and he'd be the guy who choked away two tournaments in a row. Instead, he's the guy who has won two of three tournaments.

A loss would have been traumatic. Rose kept things dramatic, marking down par after par after par.

"I felt like I really did put into play the lessons I learned at Hartford," Rose said. "I played much slower. I really felt calm. I didn't feel like the nerves got the better of me at all. . . . I knew level par would get the job done today. Every 2-putt coming in felt like hard work, I can tell you."

Rose is a charming and unpretentious chap with an easy wit. Moore is a free spirit who shuns the easy money attached to clothing and equipment endorsement deals. He wears what he chooses, and even played the final round with a putter he picked up on a whim from the practice green.

They are two of the better young golfers on the tour. They really could be big stars in the coming years, with plenty of classic battles yet to be played out between them.

At Aronimink, they provided a bit of drama. Trauma, thankfully, didn't crash the party.