Justin Rose’s eight-stroke come-from-behind victory at the WGC-HSBC Champions set a career best, a tournament best and a World Golf Championships record.
“It’s the kind of day you certainly don’t expect. It’s the kind of day you hope for, dream for but a lot of things need to go your way in order for a day like today to happen coming from eight shots behind, especially going against a player like DJ,” noted Rose.
How improbable was the comeback? Only two players in the PGA Tour’s 87 year history have made comebacks larger than Rose’s.
Paul Lawrie famously came back down 10 to Jean van de Velde to capture the 1999 British Open. And Stewart Cink overcame a nine shot deficit to beat Ted Purdy in a playoff at the 2004 MCI Heritage.
What makes Rose’s comeback more remarkable is that it was Dustin Johnson, the world’s No. 1 player, who the Englishman topped, and not some journeyman named Van de Vedle or Purdy.
Further, Rose was down six shots at the turn, and still won by two – an 8-shot swing in nine holes. Just mind-blowing. And as good as Rose played down the stretch, it wasn’t record-setting or anything. Bottomline, Johnson gave it away as much Rose won it.
BIGGEST COMEBACKS
10 Paul Lawrie, 1999 The Open Championship (Jean van de Velde)
9 Stewart Cink, 2004 MCI Heritage (Ted Purdy)
8 Justin Rose, 2017 WGC-HSBC Championship (Dustin Johnson)
8 Kyle Stanley, 2012 Waste Management Phoenix Open (Spencer Levin)
8 Craig Stadler, 2003 B.C. Open (Steve Lowery)
8 Scott Simpson, 1998 Buick Invitational (Skip Kendall)
8 Chip Beck, 1990 Buick Open, (Hale Irwin)
8 Hal Sutton, 1985 St. Jude Memphis Classic, (David Ogrin)
8 Mark Lye, 1983 Bank of Boston Classic, (John Mahaffey)
8 Ken Venturi, 1959 Los Angeles Open, (Art Wall Jr.)
8 Jack Burke, Jr., 1956 Masters Tournament, (Ken Venturi)
