With his come-from-behind win on Sunday, Justin Rose completed the third-largest comeback in PGA Tour history.
Rose entered the final round of the WGC-HSBC Champions eight shots back of 54-hole leader Dustin Johnson. A finishing 5-under 67 was enough to lift the trophy though, finishing two shots clear of DJ, Brooks Koepka, and Henrik Stenson.
Only two previous times before Sunday had someone come back from at least eight shots down in the final round to win. Paul Lawrie was famously 10 shots behind Jean van de Velde at the 1999 Open Championship, while Stewart Cink trailed Ted Purdy by nine in 2004 at Harbour Town.
Rose was so far back, that before the start of the final round Sunday he had pretty much accepted the fact that he wasn’t going to win.
I think whenever you’re playing behind someone with a lead, [you] try and win the other golf tournament,” Rose said. “That’s always my mentality. And then just see what happens. The leader, you never expect him to have a bad day, but just in case, play for second.
For DJ, he joins rare company as well. Johnson became just the second world No. 1 to cough up a six-shot lead in the final round of a PGA Tour event. Norman famously blew that lead at the 1996 Masters.
