Rose dominates in Fort Worth

By
Mo Yoshimoto,

By
Mo Yoshimoto

Published October 4, 2018 04:04 PM

Fort Worth Invitational

Fort Worth, TX

Second- and third-round leader and World No. 5 Justin Rose twirled a 6-under-par 30-34=64 in Sunday’s final round at Colonial Country Club for a 72-hole tally of 20-under 260, good for a three-shot win over playing competitor Brooks Koepka (63) and his ninth PGA TOUR title in 315 events (314 pro).

The 37-year-old, a pre-tourney 20/1 outright, bags his second win of the season in 10 starts and becomes the season’s fifth multiple champion (Kizzire, Thomas, Watson, Day).

FUN FACT: Rose’s last TOUR title, also as a 20/1 outright, was the 2018 WGC-HSBC, where he came from eight shots back w/ 5-under 67 to win by two over three players, including first-round leader Koepka.

Emiliano Grillo (64) finished solo 3^rd, four back; Kevin Na, who tied the course record (61) finished solo 4^th, six back; and Kevin Tway (67), Jon Rahm (68) and Louis Oosthuizen (68) shared 5^th place, 10 adrift.

Na, who was the first-round leader with 62, became just the fifth player since 1983 to shoot multiple rounds of 62-or-better in an event. Unfortunately, he played his middle laps in 3-over (62-73-70-61).

This was his Rose’s first FWI since T71 in 2010, fifth cash and second top 25, brushing aside a previous-best T13 on debut in 2005.

After kicking off in 66-64-66, the Bahamas resident hit nine (of 14) fairways and 14 greens in regulation.

He squared two bogeys at holes 3 and 18, smothered by eight birdies at 1, 2, 5-7, 9, 11 and 15, five from between 10 and 27 feet. The Englishman posted 1.854 SG: Putting with 26 total putts. For the week, he totaled 25 birdies versus five bogeys. He began the day with a four-shot lead over Koepka and Grillo and led by four at the turn. Rose was dominant and in total control. The final outcome was never in doubt.

Final Leaderboard (pre-tourney odds outright):

1- Justin Rose (20/1)

2- Brooks Koepka (22/1)

3- Emiliano Grillo (45/1)

4- Kevin Na (50/1)

T5- Kevin Tway (100/1)

T5- Jon Rahm (14/1)

T5- Louis Oosthuizen (50/1)

FUN FACT: Rose’s 260 is the lowest winning aggregate of the season, eclipsing 261 by rookies Aaron Wise (Byron Nelson) and Austin Cook (RSM).

It also ties his career-low aggregate at the 2017 Sony Open with the exact same round-by-round scores

2018 Fort Worth: 66-64-66-64

2017 Sony: 66-64-66-64

Rose finished 2^nd at the Sony, however, seven in arrears of winner Justin Thomas’ 253 (59-64-65-65), which is the TOUR’s 72-hole aggregate scoring record.

Rose’s KEY Stats for the Week (ranking of 78):

SG: Approach: 10.24 (1^st)

SG: Tee-to-Green: 15.82 (1^st)

Greens in Regulation: 57/72 (1^st) at 79.17%

Birdie to Bogey Ratio: 5.00 (1^st)

Birdie or Better Percentage: 34.72% (T1)

Total Birdies: 25 (T1)

Par-4 Scoring: 3.71 (2^nd)

Par-5 Scoring: 4.13 (T2)

FUN FACT: Rose’s 10.24 in SG: Approach is the highest tally by a winner this season, eclipsing Thomas’ 9.48 at the Honda, and the highest since Jason Dufner’s 10.68 en route to winning last year’s Memorial.

FUN FACT: Rose’s 15.82 in SG: Tee-to-Green is the highest tally by a winner this season, eclipsing Thomas’ 14.10 at the Honda, and the highest since Jason Dufner’s 16.53 at last year’s Memorial.

Thomas (idle) remains No. 1 in the FedExCup standings for a 15^th event in a row and a 14^th overall week this season.

With a Strength of Field rating of 412 – up from 319 last year – Rose banks 52.00 world-ranking points and bumps two places to 3^rd in OWGR and nine spots to 2^nd in the FEC standings.

FEC Rank: 2^nd (tied career high)

OWGR: 3^rd (tied career high)

Season Form: 1-23-19-12-52-3-5-37-8-1

Starts: 10

Cuts Made: 10

Top 25s: 8

Top 10s: 5

Top 5s: 4

Wins: 2

Rose’s Last 5 Rounds: 66-66-64-66-64

FUN FACT: Rose took one week off after a T23 at THE PLAYERS (68-72-73-66) and is the 19^th straight winner this season with either 0 or 1 week off prior to their wins. In total, 25 (of 30) event winners fall into this category. #NoLongLayoffsPlease

FUN FACT: Rose has ranked as high as 3^rd in OWGR several times, most recently after his win at the Scottish Open in 2014.

FUN FACT: Rose posted top-10 finishes in ALL FOUR FEC Playoffs events (T10-T2-T10-T10) last season, one of three players to do that, joining Rahm and Jordan Spieth.

FUN FACT: Like Rose, Koepka took one week off after a T11 at THE PLAYERS, where he closed with a week-tying-low, 9-under 63 that included an albatross. He was also one of only two players with multiple bogey-free rounds (2) at TPC Sawgrass, along with Jason Day.

Brooks Koepka: Along with his two TOUR wins in 93 events, most recently the 2017 U.S. Open, he’s now recorded six runner-up finishes, second this season in six starts.

Season Form: 2-11-42-MC-34-2

Last 5 Rounds: 63-70-63-67-63

FEC Rank: 44^th (UP 54)

OWGR: 9^th (UP two)

The 28-year-old, who was top debutant (of 26), was joined in the top 10 by fellow first-timers Corey Conners (T8) and Joaquin Niemann (T8). Conners, a 26-year-old TOUR rookie, records his first career top 10 in 29 events (25 pro), while non-member Niemann, records his second top 10 of the season in five starts (four pro), joining a 6^th in San Antonio (Valero).

Nieman, a 19-year-old and former No. 1-ranked amateur in the world, earned 80.00 non-member FEC points and is now just 88.552 points short of Special Temporary Membership.

Rose’s 9 TOUR wins:

2018: Fort Worth (54-hole leader)

Shot: 6-under 64

Winning Margin: 3 shots

Career Start: 315 (314 pro)

Starts Between Wins: 9

2018: WGC-HSBC (come from behind, 8-shot deficit)

Shot: 5-under 67

Winning Margin: 2 shots

Career Start: 306 (305 pro)

Starts Between Wins: 49

2015: Zurich Classic (54-hole co-leader)

Shot: 6-under 66

Winning Margin: 1 shot

Career Start: 257

Starts Between Wins: 14

2014: Quicken Loans (come from behind, 3-shot deficit)

Shot: 1-under 70

Winning Margin: PLAYOFF

Career Start: 243

Starts Between Wins: 21

2013: U.S. Open (come from behind, 2-shot deficit)

Shot: even-par 70

Winning Margin: 2 shots

Career Start: 222

Start Between Wins: 23

2012: WGC-Cadillac (Doral) (come from behind, 3-shot deficit)

Shot: 2-under 70

Winning Margin: 1 shot

Career Start: 199

Starts Between Wins: 7

2011: BMW Championship (54-hole leader by 4)

Shot: even-par 71

Winning Margin: 2 shots

Career Start: 192

Starts Between Wins: 28

2010: AT&T National (54-hole leader by 4)

Shot: even-par 70

Winning Margin: 1 shot

Career Start: 164

Starts Between Wins: 2

2010: Memorial (come from behind, 4-shot deficit)

Shot: 6-under 66

Winning Margin: 3 shots

Career Start: 162 (7^th season on TOUR)

Odds Favorite:

Jordan Spieth: For a second week in a row, the Texan was top-ranked in OWGR and the pre-tourney fave outright (8/1). For a second week in a row, he never contended.

At last week’s Byron Nelson, he finished T21 and ranked 72^nd (of 75) in SG: Putting (-3.662). This week, the 24-year-old, who was a past champ in 2016 as a 6/1 fave and also owns runners-up in 2015 and 2017, finished T32, 15 shots back. He ranked 70^th (of 78) in SG: Putting at -3.563. For the season, Spieth slots 192^nd in SGP out of 206.

Player Spotlights:

Chesson Hadley: The 2017 Web.com Tour Player of the Year finished T20 after making the cut on the number (71-71-65-67). He joins Thomas as the TOUR-leader in top 25 finishes with 12 (in 19 starts) and leads with seven straight top-25 finishes.

Jimmy Walker: The 39-year-old finished T20 (68-70-70-66). He ranks second to Hadley with six consecutive top 25s.

Field Scoring Average:

Yardage: 7,209

Par: 70 (35-35)

Cumulative scoring averages:

R1: 69.76

R2: 71.48

R3: 68.46

R4: 68.82

Total: 69.83

Rose: 66-64-66-64 for 18.52 SG: Total

Rose’s Position by Round:

R1: T8

R2: 1

R3: 1

Leader/co-leaders by Round:

R1: Kevin Na (finished 4th): Drops to 0-for-6 as 18-hole leader/co-leader

R2: Justin Rose (Won): Improves to 3-for-13 as 36-hole leader/co-leader

R3: Justin Rose (Won): Improves to 4-for-14 as 54-hole leader/co-leader

Note: In the last nine events, eight were won by a 54-hole leader/co-leader, five straight. Ian Poulter (Houston) is the most recent come-from-behind winner.

Draw:

A total of 78 pros from a field of 121 pros made the 36-hole cut of 2-over 142:

38 (of 60) EARLY/late; 1 WD (Garrigus)

40 (of 58) LATE/early; 1 WD (Stroud); 1 DQ (Power)

Exactly 10 players finished in the top 10:

EARLY/late (4):

Emiliano Grillo (3^rd); Kevin Tway (T5); Jon Rahm (T5); Louis Oosthuizen (T5)

LATE/early (6):

Justin Rose (Won); Brooks Koepka (2^nd); Kevin Na (4^th); Joaquin Niemann (T8); Ben Crane (T8); Corey Conners (T8)