Rose blooms into Olympic gold at Rio de Janeiro

Photo: Douglas Sacha/Dreamstime

When Justin Rose won the 2013 United States Open he earned more than $US1.4 million in prizemoney. It amounted to virtually $NZ2 million.
But when the Briton won the Olympic gold medal for golf at Rio de Janeiro in Brazil last month there was not a single dollar involved. And it didn’t matter.
“That felt better than anything I’ve ever won,” Rose said after defeating Henrik Stenson of Sweden in a tournament that went down to the last of the 72 holes.
“It was the best tournament I’ve ever done. Hopefully we’ve shown Brazil what golf is about. I’m glad it was close. Not for my nerves (but) for golf.”
It was the first time golf had been staged at an Olympics for 112 years. The tournament looked like being a flop when a number of top players elected to by-pass the event including the game’s big four of Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Speith and Rory McIlroy.
But interest grew as the event neared, culminating with a sell-out crowd of 12,000 on the final day’s play.
“It’s a dream come true,” Rose added.
“I’ve been thinking about Rio for a long, long time. I’ve been dreaming about coming here for a few years now. I was hoping my ranking would allow me to compete in the Olympic Games.
“I came here in good form and I felt excited about competing, excited about giving it one hundred percent.
“Then when I actually got down to Rio and experienced the whole vibe of the Olympics, to come out of it with a medal is incredible. To come out of it with gold — unbelievable.’’
Brazil is not one of the golfing world’s hotbeds and at least one of the spectators was not sure of the etiquette, as Rose himself found out. His tee shot on the second hole on the final day went into the crowd and a woman spectator raced to pick it up. Fellow spectators, watching in disbelief, urged the woman to let the ball go, which she did.
Rose was drawing attention from the first day of the tournament. He scored a hole-in-one with a seven iron on the fourth hole of 172m. It was the first hole-in-one in an Olympics.
Rose, whose previous ace won him a new car, said he could not put a price on this historic one.
“When you’re the first to do anything, no one can ever take it away from you, so it’s really cool,’’ Rose told The Mirror newspaper in England.
“I’ll give the credit to my caddy because he told me to take a seven (iron) when I was going to take an eight.
“From the tee you couldn’t really see where the ball had gone because the pin was at the back of the green; it was like one of those infinity drops.’’
Rose said the golfers who decided to by-pass the Olymics would be having second-thoughts.
“I think the guys who aren’t here will be missing it.
“The camaraderie in the athletes’ village and among competitors in different sports is terrific and the opportunity to be a part of something on this scale is really special.
“Only in the Ryder Cup do you really play with real patriotic support but that’s what we got here — it had that feel to it.”
Rose went on to score a four-under par 67 on the first day and followed up with scores of 69 and 65 on the second and third days.
That left him with a one shot lead over Stenson and they were paired together for the final round.
In a match that was similar to Stenson’s final round battle with Phil Michelson in the British Open a month earlier, the pair traded birdies all afternoon.
Entering the 72nd hole, they were tied at 15 under par. Neither player could reach the par five 18th with their second shots and faced short pitch shots for up-and-down birdies. Stenson’s approach hit short of the pin and spun back, leaving him a 20-footer. Rose’s pitch hit and checked up inside three feet. Stenson went on to three-putt, and Rose tapped in for a birdie and the gold medal.