Popular British golf pro Justin Rose was already in the club house with his wife when perennial runner-up Phil Mickelson missed a 15 foot putt on the 18th hole that would have tied him with Rose and forced a playoff round. Mickelson missed the putt… again… and had to settle for second place in the US Open, again. 2013 marked the sixth US Open in which “Old Lefty” has come in second in the event.
All that Rose had to do on the final day of the US Open was to maintain par. On most PGA golf courses, that would not be so hard to do. Not so at Merion. The 127 year old course proved to be much more elusive than most of the expert players anticipated.
Mickelson led from the first day when he shot a 3 under par 67 and watched from the club house as one after another of his competitors had their problems at Merion. He did have one moment of brilliance in the final round from 76 yards away when his second shot off the 10th fairway raced across the green and right into the hole with the pin… along with its wicker basket… still in place. It was a great Eagle shot and put Phil right back into competition at that point.
No oddsmakers gave Justin Rose much of a chance at winning the US Open. LVH SuperBook in Las Vegas originally had him listed at 25/1 but those odds had dropped to 7/1 by the beginning of third round play on Saturday. The only matchup offered with Rose was Masters winner Matt Kucher and that gave ‘Kuch’ the nod at -125/+105. Kuchar finished way out of the money at Merion.
Next up for Rose will be the Travelers Championship next week up in Cromwell, Connecticut where he will be joined by countrymen Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter along with Jason Dufner, Keegan Bradley and Bubba Watson. Last year’s winner Marc Leishman will also be there to round out the field.
After that, the big one… well, the other big one, the British Open, played at Muirfield in Scotland, will tee off on July 18th and finish up on the 21st. In spite of his poor showing at Merion, Tiger Woods is still listed as the favorite to win at Muirfield.
Las Vegas oddsmakers opened wagering on the British Open with Woods at 6/1, Rory McIlroy at 12/1 followed by Adam Scott and Justin Rose at 18/1.
