Justin Rose's victory in the US Open Golf Tournament.
I remember seeing him on tv as a 17 year old amateur in the 1998 Open Championship where he came in joint 4th.
Immediately after the end of his round it was announced that he was turning with a large amount of sponsorship. I thought at the time that it was an ill advised step, after all he had just lost in the British Amateur Championship to a Spaniard (Sergio Garcia).
He missed the cut in his next 21 competitions meaning that he had to go to the European Tour qualifying school to get his playing card (he finished 4th). However he did not do well enough in 1999 to retain his card so had to go back to the qualifying school (he finished 9th).
He gradually improved, retaining his card in 2000, then in 2001 he started off with two second places in South Africa (his country of birth). He finished the year in the top 40 in the Order of merit for the European Tour. His first professional victory was in South Africa early in 2002, this as followed by 3 more victories that season.
Since then he has played in both the European and US tours. His foray into the US was marked by a loss of form, he was on the point of returning to Europe in 2005 when he gained a third place in the Buick Championship followed by two more good finishes, allowing him to retain his US card for 2006.
Since then he has gradually improved, getting into the top 10 world ranking in 2007. In recent years he has led in the early rounds of major championships and scored valuable points in Ryder Cup matches. Although he is unlikely to have been on anyone's list of certainties in the last few majors he has frequently been up there on the leader board.
Then last weekend all his hard work and commitment paid off, he was able to hold his game together under stress and difficult conditions better than the others and came home as a desrved winner.
Oh, and the thing people always say about him is that he is a nice guy.
I remember seeing him on tv as a 17 year old amateur in the 1998 Open Championship where he came in joint 4th.
Immediately after the end of his round it was announced that he was turning with a large amount of sponsorship. I thought at the time that it was an ill advised step, after all he had just lost in the British Amateur Championship to a Spaniard (Sergio Garcia).
He missed the cut in his next 21 competitions meaning that he had to go to the European Tour qualifying school to get his playing card (he finished 4th). However he did not do well enough in 1999 to retain his card so had to go back to the qualifying school (he finished 9th).
He gradually improved, retaining his card in 2000, then in 2001 he started off with two second places in South Africa (his country of birth). He finished the year in the top 40 in the Order of merit for the European Tour. His first professional victory was in South Africa early in 2002, this as followed by 3 more victories that season.
Since then he has played in both the European and US tours. His foray into the US was marked by a loss of form, he was on the point of returning to Europe in 2005 when he gained a third place in the Buick Championship followed by two more good finishes, allowing him to retain his US card for 2006.
Since then he has gradually improved, getting into the top 10 world ranking in 2007. In recent years he has led in the early rounds of major championships and scored valuable points in Ryder Cup matches. Although he is unlikely to have been on anyone's list of certainties in the last few majors he has frequently been up there on the leader board.
Then last weekend all his hard work and commitment paid off, he was able to hold his game together under stress and difficult conditions better than the others and came home as a desrved winner.
Oh, and the thing people always say about him is that he is a nice guy.
