In 2005, an 18 year old Andy Murray burst upon the tennis world as a somewhat skinny but obviously talented player; his early promise was finally fulfilled in 2012 when, as a much more muscular specimen, he became the first Briton for 76 years to win one of the 'Grand Slam' tournaments of tennis, the US Open.
Yesterday, another former teenage prodigy achieved a similar feat.
Justin Rose first came to notice as far back as the 1998 Open championship at Royal Birkdale when, as a not-quite 18 year-old, he tied for 4th place being beaten only by Mark, O'Meara and Brian Watts who tied for first place and Tiger Woods. On that memorable occasion, Rose beat his then fellow amateur Sergio Garcia by no less than 10 shots, but their careers followed very different courses thereafter.
Rose turned professional immediately after his Open performance and Garcia joined him in the following spring but while Garcia enjoyed considerable early success, Rose had a miserable time and missed the cut in all of his first 21 professional events. It seemed that his career might be over almost before it had begun but he persevered and gradually began to prosper, at least a little. Garcia, meanwhile, became one of the world's leading players and was frequently touted as a likely winner of one of the four 'Majors'.
Over time, Garcia has had his ups and downs but he's still to win that elusive 'Major'. Rose, on the other hand, has kept going and slowly but surely overhauled his more illustrious rival, rising to the giddy heights of number 3 in the world. Yesterday, the boy from 1998 finally came to full manhood by becoming the first Englishman since Tony Jacklin in 1970 to win the US Open Golf Championship and the first Englishman to win any 'Major' since Nick Faldo lifted his third 'Masters' title in 1996.
One of the 'Sky' commentators referred to Rose as a 'plodder', a somewhat derogatory term on the face of things but probably meant rather differently. Rose actually played the best golf of any of the leading contenders in the final round, being cautious and ensuring that he avoided trouble. On a difficult course, it was the best way and, if that's 'plodding', give me a plodder every time.
The original 'Open Championship' will get underway at Muirfield on 14th July with the main event starting on 18th. Rose must now be considered as one of the favourites to win that event but, whoever wins, it will hard to match the tension and excitement of yesterday's last round as he, Mickelson, Mahan and Stricker fought it out to the last.
And finally, a word for poor old Phil Mickelson who came up one place short yet again at the US Open, the sixth time he's suffered that agony. Mickelson is one of the real gentlemen of world sport and it was very sad to see his obvious distress at the end; most unusually for him, he didn't even have a public word of congratulation for the winner when interviewed after the tournament, though I think we can forgive him that lapse given his previous immaculate record in such matters and his obvious heartbreak at yesterday's outcome. He will, of course, be back and will be a front-runner at Muirfield; perhaps he'll even 'return the favour' to Rose and win our Championship for the first time !
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