Rose the lone Merion surivivor: 'What a day'

Justin Rose's caddie bolted out of the pro shop at Merion Golf Club, scanning the 18th green.

There was a 10-second delay on NBC's telecasts of the U.S. Open, and Mark Fulcher couldn't wait that long. Rose's caddie of five years stopped on the patio but couldn't see over the crowd.

Fulcher ran to his right, down a path closer to the hole. He asked a woman standing on a stone wall, "Where did Phil go?"

The woman told him that Phil Mickelson's second shot on 18 had landed in front of the green. Fulcher hustled back to the pro shop. Rose had a 1-stroke lead, but Fulcher pointed out later, "Phil is capable of anything."

Waiting for Mickelson to play 18, Rose had done an interview with England's Sky Sport on the stone patio. "I'm hoping it's enough," Rose said of his narrow lead. "What a day. . . . What a day."

Rose had made par on the 18th, hitting his driver to just behind the Ben Hogan plaque commemorating the most famous shot ever made at Merion. Rose's drive was so true that another bounce might have placed it directly on that plaque in the middle of the fairway.

He hit a 4-iron from there.

"I wanted to finish in style like Hogan," Rose told the man from Sky. "It just trickled off the green."

Instead of chipping with an iron, Rose got through the wet grass with a 3-wood, showing perfect touch. His knees buckled for a moment when he thought he'd holed the birdie. He still realized par had put him in a strong position to win the Open.

As it turned out, not one of the top 15 players Sunday made birdie on 18. Seven of them made bogey.

"You saw me look to the heavens," Rose told the Sky man. "Obviously, it's Father's Day."

His own father had died of leukemia in 2002.

The crowd at 18 chanted, "Let's go Phil!" When Mickelson's pitch failed to go in, Rose had it officially, his first major. The people's choice was escorted along the patio, pinching at his nose, tied for second by 2 strokes after he missed his par putt. Mickelson walked toward the pro shop, but was directed to a door on the right. The wood-paneled pro shop, serving as a player's hospitality room this week, was reserved for the winner.

"He's been an absolute gentleman to me and Rosey," Fulcher said of Mickelson, remembering Ryder Cup battles. "If we didn't win, I'd have wanted Phil to win it."

While Rose was being handed the trophy on the 18th green, Fulcher stood between the green and the pro shop, taking last sips of a beer. He remembered how Rose also won the AT&T National at nearby Aronimink in Newtown Square in 2010, and Laura Davies had won the McDonald's LPGA Championship twice in Wilmington with Fulcher on her bag.

"I'd really like the British Open to be played in Philadelphia," Fulcher quipped.

He recalled how they had changed their preparations for this Open, believing past major preps had been rushed. They had flown in a week earlier, the two of them, and walked around the course, staying eight hours one day.

"It was almost a religious experience," Fulcher said. "Being on our own out here."

He said they guessed at a few potential pin locations.

"Got lucky on some of them," he added.

He talked of Sean Foley, most famous as current swing coach of Tiger Woods. He also works with Rose.

"Best swing coach in the world," Fulcher said.

Before this tournament, Rose had texted Fulcher a photo of a tunnel. The photo is in Rose's home, the image obvious. Rose would spend this tournament in a tunnel.

"I'll just walk behind him," the caddie decided.

Before the final round, which Rose began 2 strokes back of Mickelson, the golfer told his caddie he wouldn't look at scoreboards.

"The fifth, I caught him out," Fulcher said. "You can't miss them, let's be honest. There's one on the tee, there's one on the fairway, there's one on the roof. They're everywhere."

Rose had just three-putted the 11th hole when he heard the roar from the 10th green.

"Phil birdied," his caddie said.

"Eagle,'' Rose told him, realizing the intensity of the roar.

"It's not easy working for a genius," the caddie said later.

All Rose did after Mickelson's eagle was knock a 9-iron within a foot on 12, then follow with a birdie on the short 13th. Had to dig deep, he said later. He always had at least a share of the lead after that.

On 18, they talked about driver or 3-wood before going driver.

"You've got to believe in what he's good at, and he's really good at that," his caddie said. "I've always thought he was one of the best players in the world. He proved it today. . . . I think he's got the purest swing in golf."

Walking off 18 after Rose's drive, the group's standard-bearer, holding the portable scoreboard, noticed a change in Mickelson's score. Cal Williams, about to start ninth grade at the Haverford School, pointed out the change to the group's official scorer: "Mickelson bogeyed." The scorer tapped Williams' shoulder. Their man was up by a stroke.

Asked how far the drive had ended up behind the Hogan plaque, Fulcher said, "You want it in feet or inches?" He pulled out his yardage book.

"We were five paces behind," he reported.

The sun had come back out, but Rose was in a shade provided by a television tower as he struck his shot toward the green.

After it was over, standing on the stone patio, golfer and caddie hugged Rose's wife and his manager. The veteran looper joked about how he wouldn't admit to tearing up, but Fulcher added, "I can't take my glasses off."