Justin Rose's long wait for a first victory in the United States ended at the Memorial Tournament in Ohio. The 29-year-old finally broke through in America in his 162nd PGA Tour start after oveturning an overnight four-shot deficit to beat Rickie Fowler by three shots with an 18-under par total. Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were also in the field but could only finish 22nd and fifth respectively.
The Englishman is up from 66th to 33rd on the world rankings and has leapt from 27th to eighth on the Ryder Cup world points list, just ahead of Graeme McDowell, the Wales Open winner. Only four from that list, however, earn automatic places in Colin Montgomerie's side and since he plays so little in Europe it still looks likely that he will need one of the three wild cards. Competition for those is really hotting up. Padraig Harrington, Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, Robert Karlsson, Ross Fisher and McDowell would require one as things stand.
"I guess I'm right in the hunt there now, which is great," said Rose, who joins Ian Poulter and Rory McIlroy as a winner in America this season. "I think my best way of getting into the Ryder Cup is not worry about the Ryder Cup - I've been saying that for quite some time. "The key is to just keep plugging away and don't get too involved in all these things that, I guess, started me slipping down in the world rankings. So I continue to play free. I talked about trying to play one shot at a time, stay focused, not get ahead of myself.
"I also really tried hard to not distinguish a huge difference between winning in Europe and wining in America. "I was trying not to put a huge barrier in front of me. Now, with the monkey off my back, there is a difference, of course. To win a PGA Tour event I think you certainly need to have 100 per cent control of your emotions. "The last tournament I won was the 2007 Volvo Masters and I didn't win it in a fashion that I was actually terribly proud of. I was four or five ahead at one point and ended up winning in a play-off. "This gives me a lot more satisfaction to win the way I did." * Agencies
