'Hot finish' in Round 3 pulls Rose within striking distance at Masters
Justin Rose entered the third round of the 79th Masters seemingly as a bit player, but when he tapped in on the 18th hole Saturday, the Englishman had become one of the main characters in what is now a four-man epic.
Rose, who shot 5-under 67 for a 204 total, Phil Mickelson (67–205) and Charley Hoffman (71–206) are the only players realistically within striking distance of Jordan Spieth, who shot 70 for a 54-hole-record 200 and four-stroke lead. Rose will have the best view of Sunday's final round after he made birdie on the final hole Saturday to bump Mickelson from the final pairing and join the 21-year-old Texan.
When he teed off in the penultimate group Saturday, Rose trailed Spieth by seven strokes. That deficit stretched to 10 when Rose strode to the sixth tee after bogeys on two of his first five holes.
With Spieth seemingly on auto pilot, Rose needed a spark and found it on his second shot on the par-4 seventh hole.
With a breath of wind swirling in the pines, Rose decided to go with a 52-degree wedge versus a pitching wedge from the fairway. The choice set up the first of seven birdies in his final 12 holes.
“That sort of changed the momentum for me,” Rose said of the correct club decision on the seventh hole. “From that moment on, I was very committed to my shots. I guess I played patient golf and got rewarded at the end. I guess some strokes of luck or magic, whichever way you look at it, holing out of the bunker at No. 16.”
Rose would birdie two of the last three holes, the par-3 16th from the sand and the par-4 18th by dropping a slick-sliding 20-footer from above the hole.
In that span of three closing holes, Rose moved from seven shots back to four shots back and with a more realistic opportunity to catch Spieth.
The other benefit of his back-nine 31 is that Rose will be in the final group with Spieth, a position that has crowned 20 of the past 24 winners at the Masters.
“It was nice to stay patient and get rewarded with a hot finish,” Rose said. “It's amazing, and it put me in with a great opportunity tomorrow now. It's a great lesson, as well, to stay patient, because you never know when you're going to get your run.”
Entering the final round of the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion, Rose was tied for fifth and two shots off Phil Mickelson's lead. Rose shot even-par 70 on Sunday to win. The six players either tied or ahead of Rose on Sunday averaged 75.33, and none of the six shot better than 74.
Rose finds comfort in his position.
“I've had enough good rounds here where I've always felt ... I've got a good game plan around here,” said Rose, 34, who owns two top-10s in nine career starts in the Masters. “I've learned where you can miss it, where you can't miss it; which pins to be aggressive to, which you can't. I think that being here 10 times now, I'm sort of beginning to put it all together.”
