Wheels are off Tiger and Rory roadshow

Pair struggling to regain former glories

A fortnight ago, Justin Rose told me how much he had fallen in love with the US Open venue, Merion. Last Sunday he proved the wisdom of that three-day preparatory trip by holding his nerve down the treacherous five finishing holes to win his first Major.

A former Open champion on both sides of the pond, Johnny Miller, was bowled over by the Englishman’s performance.

“You just had to hand it to him after his faltering start on Thursday when he was four over par,” he said.

“He battled back from there to be three under for the rest of the Championship, and the swings he made on the last two holes will take him to The Open next month with a lot of confidence.

“Not only that, but with this win he could be unleashed.

“Justin could be very hard to beat over next five years.”

While Rose finally fulfilled years of promise, Tiger Woods and Rory McIIroy again showed they’re struggling to regain former glories.

Both delivered performances strewn with errors that left their legions of fans shell-shocked.

Miller continued: “This was not the Tiger we saw in the earlier part of the year when he won at Torrey Pines, Bay Hill, Doral, and, of course, the Players Championship.

“The difference from those four wins and The Masters and US Open was he went from putting lights out, to simply not being able to hole a putt at Augusta or Merion.

“He must be trying too hard in the Majors, or maybe he is getting to the age where he has a little tiny bit of nerves that you can’t really see.

“Or maybe he just wants it too badly and that Majors record of Jack Nicklaus is haunting him.

“But the ease with which he won those four tournaments in the early part of the year, when it looked like the game was back and the putting was back, was maybe a false dawn.

“At Merion he was third in driving accuracy. Any other year, if Tiger was third in driving accuracy on Merion, he would win by 10.

“So something wasn’t right.”

Turning to Rory McIlroy, Woods’ playing partner for three rounds, Miller shakes his head in disbelief.

“I really like Rory, and I wanted him to do well, but I’m pretty sure his game is in a funny state and he has not yet settled with it at the moment,” he said.

“When he stuck a nine iron twice into Cobb’s Creek in the final round, then twisted and bent the shaft of his iron, that was not the McIlroy we know.

“It wasn’t good and showed just how much frustration is boiling up inside him.

“To be blunt, he has lost it just now, and there are all sorts of reasons being bandied about as to the reason why.

“Remember, this was the old-fashioned US Open, and it showed what nerves can do to you when you are faced with heavy, thick rough.

“It is always going to be tough when, like Justin, you’re not hitting the fairway and there were a lot of unusual things happened as a result.”

n Bernard Gallacher’s tribute to Justin Rose P77.