US Open 2017: Justin Rose notices parallels at Erin Hills to 2013 Merion win
In fact, Merion in suburban Philadelphia is laid out over 111 acres while Erin Hills, and located some 40-minutes to the north-west of Milwaukee, stretches some 650 acres. But dominating this slice of Wisconsin real estate is the stunning Holy Hill National Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians Basilica located a short distance from the course and set out on 450 acres on one of the highest hills in the region and reaching 1,350-feet above sea level. And if the wind gets up and the rain buckets down like it did late on Monday then many of the game’s best could be turning to the basilica for divine assistance. “Merion in some ways played like a baby version of Erin Hills, but you had to play similar golf,” said Rose. “You had to be patient. You had to pick your times to be very aggressive. But I think at Merion, if you were overly aggressive you were going to get punished, and it might be the same this week too.
GETTY Justin Rose has suggested Erin Hills will play similarly to Merion
GETTY Justin Rose won his one and only major in 2013 at Merion
Merion in some ways played like a baby version of Erin Hills Justin Rose
“You still have to keep the ball in play. Even though it’s wide, you have to keep it in play. If you don’t keep it in play, a water hazard could be a stroke penalty. “This hay is more than a stroke penalty because there may be nowhere to drop it. Or you might be forced to having a couple of goes at it out of the hay. “So, it really is paramount to keep the ball in play, as it was at Merion. “At Merion, I accepted that and I played the course accordingly. This week’s going to be much the same from that point of view, just keeping it in front of you”. In winning at Merion, Rose was also ranked second overall in fairways hit in regulation whereas the now 36-year old and reigning Olympic Gold Medal winner is well down in 126th place in the same category on this year’s PGA Tour.
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But having so graciously accepted finishing runner-up to Sergio Garcia at The Masters the golf world would be happy this week to wrap its collective arms around Rose winning a second U.S. Open. “I have tried in the aftermath of the Masters to feel kind of fine about what happened,” said Rose. “I feel really good about the way I played and my execution down the stretch for the most part. I also think you’d be naive to think you can go throughout your whole career and not have one that gets away. “So, it is one that got away, for sure. But I think that’s part of the game, so I’m fully accepting of it. I only really judge it at the end of the year, because if I win this week or Birkdale or the PGA Championship, I’m going to walk away believing it’s a fantastic year”. Joining Rose is a dozen other England golfers and that is two more than the record-setting number that teed-up at Augusta National.
Among them is 22-year old Matthew Fitzpatrick contesting his third U.S. Open and a second as a pro having teed-up in 2014 still an amateur and as the reigning U.S. Amateur champion. Fitzpatrick got a close-up look at the gleaming U.S. Open trophy in a TV promo set in room but in a mock-up of a typical Wisconsin farming barn with bales of hay lying about while there was a tractor in one corner and the trophy sitting on a crate in another. “The golf course is in great shape and having played in a few USGA events in my career they always do a great job”, he said. “What they are do good at, is that take it to the edge where it is almost unplayable but then that it what makes it so tough and that is why the championship is go great. “So, they always do it properly and it is always a fantastic week but Erin Hills is easily the widest USGA course I have seen.
GETTY Justin Rose will be hoping to build on his runners-up finish at The Masters