A decade ago Justin Rose used The European Tour’s annual trip to the Netherlands to launch his fledgling professional career. Now, ten years on, the Englishman is back at The KLM Open, hoping for a dose of Dutch courage in his bid to secure a Ryder Cup debut.
Back in 1998, Rose arrived at Hilversumche Golf Club in a blaze of publicity after his spectacular effort in The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale where, as an amateur, he finished in a share of fourth place after memorably holing his pitch shot on the 72nd hole.
Understandably, the hullaballoo got to the young Englishman and, despite a brave second round 65, his opening 77 consigned him to the first of 21 missed cuts in the paid ranks. However, he learned valuable lessons from the experience and arrives this year at Kennemer Golf and Country Club as the 12th ranked golfer in the world and on the verge of securing Ryder Cup honours for the first time.
For while The KLM Open – with its increased prize fund of €1,800,000 – remains one of the oldest and most prestigious titles in Continental Europe, its proximity to the biennial clash with the United States and the fact it is the penultimate counting event towards Nick Faldo’s European Team, makes discussion of the tournament – without relating it to The Ryder Cup – nigh on impossible.
That fact is borne out by glancing at the entry list which features seven of the eight players vying for what looks like the last three automatic places in the European Team which will travel to Valhalla Golf Club in Kentucky in four weeks looking to win The Ryder Cup for the fourth successive time.
For while conventional wisdom suggests that the players who currently occupy positions one to seven on the Team list – Padraig Harrington, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia, Henrik Stenson, Robert Karlsson, Miguel Angel Jiménez and Graeme McDowell – are pretty much guaranteed a place on the Team Charter, there are still three automatic places up for grabs.
Which is why the majority of the men occupying the next eight positions – Rose, Oliver Wilson, Søren Hansen, Martin Kaymer, Ross Fisher, Nick Dougherty and Søren Kjeldsen – will all tee up at the glorious Zandvoort venue with victory firmly in their minds.
One man who knows exactly what it takes to win at Kennemer is Fisher who did just that in dramatic circumstances 12 months ago.
Firstly the Englishman has to withstand a thrilling final round surge by the new darling of Dutch golf, Joost Luiten, before courageously holing from eight feet for a birdie three on the 72nd green to win by a shot.
Or so he thought. Minutes after signing his scorecard, Fisher had to return to the 12th hole to prove to officials he had not broken a rule by innocently lifting a bramble runner before playing his second shot, a situation which was only clarified after he subsequently watched a re-run of the incident with Tournament Director Miguel Vidaor in the television compound.
“When they said to me, ‘You haven’t done anything wrong, you are the winner,’ it was a huge relief I can tell you,” admitted Fisher. Now, however, the Englishman – champion at The European Open at the beginning of July – will have pressure of a different kind as he attempts to produce another winning performance to make his dream of a Ryder Cup place a reality.
It will, however, be pressure he shares with at least seven other players. It promises to be an intriguing week’s golf.
