Oct 29, 2017: England’s Justin Rose produced one of the greatest comebacks in golfing history by overcoming an eight-shot deficit to win the WGC-HSBC Champions on Sunday.
The Olympic gold medalist started the day tied for fourth with world number one Dustin Johnson of the United States seemingly in a commanding position as he was six clear at the start of the day.
The day however took a dramatic twist with Johnson struggling to get his game going. Unlike the last three days where he marked his card with a total of 22 birdies, the American failed to get a single birdie on the day which matters most.
Rose was still six back at the turn but fired five birdies for an inward 31 to sign off with a five-under-par 67. The Englishman’s winning total of 14-under-par 274 was enough to give him a two-shot victory over Johnson, Sweden’s Henrik Stenson and Brooks Koepka of the United States, who shared second place.
”It was really tricky out there, and obviously I played one of the best back nines I’ve played in a long time.” – Justin Rose
India’s S.S.P. Chawrasia meanwhile closed with a 72 to take a share of 31st place while Asian Tour Order of Merit leader Gavin Green of Malaysia signed off in tied-38th place after a final round 77.
“It has been a good experience, playing with the top players. I’ve learnt many things. To be honest, they know how to score. They adopt a different attitude each time they hit a bad shot. For me, I get angry and frustrated with myself. But for them, they don’t care. They just forget about it and get on with their next shot. I’ve got to adopt the same mentality like them”, said Chawrasia.
Did you know?
- Justin Rose’s eight-shot comeback victory is a personal best for the Englishman and is also a World Golf Championships record.
- The largest comeback victory was 10 for Scotland’s Paul Lawrie at the Open Championship in 1999.
- The WGC-HSBC Champions is Justin Rose’s second World Golf Championships title after his earlier victory at the 2012 WGC-Cadillac Championship.
- Rose’s previous best finish at the WGC-HSBC Champions was fifth place in 2013.
- Dustin Johnson was hoping to become the first player to win three World Golf Championships tournaments in a calendar year and the second player after Phil Mickelson to win two WGC-HSBC Champions titles.
Asian Tour Release
