May 28, 2018: The Colonial Country Club, host to the Fort Worth Invitational, witnessed a week to cherish. Justin Rose made good on his recent form to take a memorable three stroke victory over a belligerent Brooks Koepka. The two men turned it on in style this week, and their performances on Sunday were of the highest class.
Indian fans have plenty to cheer too. The numbers might betray any celebratory suggestion, but both Shubhankar Sharma and Anirban Lahiri played with plenty of determination as they battled both the course and their own minds to extract a good showing.
Shubhankar worked his way back from outside the top 100 at the end of the first round to finish T20 with eleven other golfers. Anirban put behind a second round 74 to enjoy a battling weekend. Even though he will not be proud of ending the week in T58, Anirban will take plenty of positives from the week, especially how he fought back from three over through five holes on Sunday.
Intent on signing off on his own terms, Shubhankar began the final round with a pair of birdies. The 21 year old made three birdies in the first four holes, leaving himself short putts for the birdie on each occasion.
Sadly though, Shubhankar also missed twice from inside ten feet, to concede bogeys at the third and fifth holes. The Chandigarh man made amends with a fourth birdie at the 7th hole, making the turn in 33 strokes.
Shubhankar suffered a body blow when he remained rooted inside the green side bunker at the par-4 10th hole, resulting in a painful double bogey. Undeterred, the young man produced three birdies over the next five holes to briskly rise up the order. He must leave Texas with a sense of satisfaction, after starting the week on a shaky note.
Anirban is trending in the right direction after enduring a few painful weeks on the PGA TOUR. A top thirty finish in the Byron Nelson last week featured a brilliant final round 67.
On Sunday at the Colonial, Anirban was enveloped in gloom very early in his round. After suffering a bogey on the second hole, he went out of bounds at the fifth, enduring a double bogey in the process.
Down on his knees at this stage, Anirban did spectacularly well from there, playing some immaculate golf to bring it home at one under for the round and two under overall. It took four birdies for Anirban to do so, but more importantly, he could steady his mind and play some clean golf for the last thirteen holes on Sunday.
The day belonged to Rose. The Englishman played some brilliant golf all week to post a stunning 20 under score of 260, just one shy of the tournament record.
“The way I won I think is very fitting for a place that’s called Hogan’s Alley,” Rose said. “I couldn’t have dreamt a better way really.
“If I begin to look at the courses I’ve won at, this definitely strengthens that group even more. I’m very happy my game has turned up and I’ve been inspired by some of these great venues.”
Rose, ranked third in the world, has a penchant for the big occasion. His victories have come at courses with great heritage – Merion, Aronimink, Muirfield Village, Congressional, Royal Aberdeen and Valderrama and now Colonial. He is also the reigning Olympic gold medalist, the first golfer with Olympic glitter in more than a century.
The Fort Worth Invitational, dates back to 1946, with the proud distinction of being the longest-running PGA TOUR event played on the same course. Rose will treasure this prize, nearly as much as any other from his wonderful career.
