Rose continues to bloom, along with Europe's Ryder Cup hopes
By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM Site Producer
CROMWELL, Conn. -- The British aren't coming -- they're already here. Actually, the Europeans are. And they are being led by an invasion of British golf the U.S. hasn't seen since the heady days of Nick Faldo.
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Never before had a player from Europe won three consecutive weeks on the PGA TOUR. Then Graeme McDowell went out and won the U.S. Open. Now, Justin Rose, who started this streak of European domination, has a share of the lead at the Travelers Championship, where he made five straight birdies late in Thursday's opening round to shoot a 6-under 64.
One of the four players tied with Rose? Ireland's Padraig Harrington.
It was, of course, Rose's victory at the Memorial tournament presented by Morgan Stanley a month ago that launched this attack.
Not that U.S. Ryder Cup Captain Corey Pavin is worried.
"It doesn't matter how they're playing now," Pavin said. "It matters how you're playing October 1st, 2nd and 3rd. I'd love for Team U.S.A. to win tournaments and hopefully guys will play better as we get closer, but all that matters is how we play during the week of the Ryder Cup."
The ironic thing is that Pavin himself could put an end to this little tea party -- he's just one shot back after a six-birdie, one-bogey effort on a course he's come close to winning at before. In 1991, Pavin sank a 35-footer to get into a playoff here, only to come up empty in the end.
Now Pavin could sink Europe's chances, both here and in October.
Pavin doesn't necessarily expect to win, but he certainly has a chance to. The only reasons he's even here are because he enjoys the event, can compete on one of the shorter courses on TOUR and he wants to check in on his potential Ryder Cup team members throughout the season.
Rose, on the other hand, is out to win for the second time in four weeks. He absolutely took confidence from his victory at Muirfield Village but that wasn't the only thing to come out of it for the Englishman.
"The first seven, eight days after winning I didn't really touch a club," Rose said. "I was hanging out, relaxing. After that period of time, I wanted to get out on the practice range. You never fall out of love with the game, but you have to give yourself rest in order to want to play and want to practice."
Despite going 0-for-his-PGA TOUR-career prior to the Memorial, Rose never did lose that love for the game. Even if he never lived up to the ridiculous expectations following his tie for fourth as a 17-year-old in the 1998 British Open. Even if he never tasted the fruits of his labor in 162 starts on TOUR. Even if he had a runner-up finish each of the last three years.
And just like he never let all the missed opportunities get him down, he isn't letting the one he didn't let get away get him too high.
"I feel like my form carried over [from Memorial], but emotionally I didn't feel like there was any carryover," Rose said. "I think that's the key because each week is a new test, a new golf course and you have to have a new strategy. What works some weeks, you have to adjust your game and fine tune for another week."
What's working right now is Europe. In addition to Rose's and McDowell's victories, Lee Westwood won in the U.S. for the first time with his victory in Memphis two weeks ago.
Europe also has seven of the top 11 players and eight of the top 13 in the world with Westwood, Ernie Els, Luke Donald, Paul Casey, Ian Poulter, Rory McIlroy and Martin Kaymer. Only Casey hasn't won somewhere on the planet this year.
On the flip side, the U.S. boasts four of the top five ranked players in the world -- Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker and Jim Furyk.
None of it might matter to Pavin until October, but the Travelers Championship might serve as a pretty good preview of what's to come.
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