The world’s leading players will assemble for the US Open at Pebble Beach next week but Justin Rose, bizarrely, will not be among them.
Rose won the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village, in Dublin, Ohio, on Sunday evening and in so doing moved to No 33 in the world rankings — a position that a few weeks earlier would have guaranteed the Englishman a spot in the second major championship of the season.
The problem for Rose was that when the cut-off point arrived, he was outside the all-important top 50 who gain automatic entry and had to try his hand at a 36-hole qualifying tournament the day after he had lifted one of golf’s most coveted trophies.
His energy spent, Rose was always going to be up against it in a 59-man field that was chasing three places at the event in Springfield, Ohio. He kept his concentration in a first round of 68, but a 72 in the second round left him well off the pace.It was a situation similar to that of Simon Khan, who won the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth three weeks ago. He, too, fell short in a 36-hole qualifier at Walton Heath the next day. There is a strong case to suggest that winners of such prestigious tournaments should be given an exemption into championships such as the US Open.
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