Memorable moments of 2013: Justin Rose dedicates US Open win to his dad

Had Justin Rose been offered the opportunity to pick the day for his first major championship triumph, he would not have looked beyond 16 June at Merion. This was Father's Day. After holing the putt which won the US Open, ending a 43-year English wait for success at the tournament, Rose kissed his golf ball before looking and pointing skywards. It was the enduring image of the golfing year.

Rose's father Ken had succumbed to cancer 11 years earlier when the player was in the early stages of his professional career, and he was understandably devastated by the loss of his mentor. Unlike Rory McIlroy or Graeme McDowell, Rose could not hug his dad on the 72nd US Open green. Instead, he offered his poignant gesture.

"I phoned my mum after my round and we both were in floods of tears speaking to each other; she misses my dad immensely," Rose said. "I miss him immensely. And I thought it was just a fitting time in which I could honour him by looking up. I felt like I sort of put into practice a lot of the lessons that he taught me and I felt like I conducted myself in a way that he would be proud of, win or lose. And that's what it was about for me in a lot of ways, as well."

With Rose going into the final round two shots behind the overnight leader, Phil Mickelson, and tied for fifth, his coach, Sean Foley, had texted on the last morning, telling Rose to "go out there and be the man that your dad taught you to be and that your kids can look up to".

And so it proved. In the culmination of a major on a brutally tough course, which soon regressed into a war of attrition, Rose displayed magnificent nerve to hold off Jason Day and Mickelson by two shots. Mickelson, the home favourite, came up short in the US Open for the sixth time in his career. Rose hit a wonderful four-iron approach to the 18th on Sunday, played just four paces away from where Ben Hogan hit one of the game's most iconic shots en route to winning the 1950 US Open.

For Rose, who struggled after moving into the professional ranks, a journey of sorts was complete. "I think my dad always believed that I was capable of this," he said. "When he was close to passing away, he told my mum, 'don't worry, Justin will be OK. He'll know what to do'. He kind of believed in me to be my own man. And I think that I took a lot of confidence from that.

"It was a pretty traumatic start to my pro career. I've never really talked about it because you don't want to admit to that being the case, but I think when you've got past something you can talk openly about it.

"I guess everybody was emotional. I sensed people who had known me for a long time, they all felt for me as well, in a good way. I had been full circle, been through it all with my dad. My dad had seen me struggle but fortunately he has also seen me win on tour as a pro. What I'm most grateful for about winning the US Open is just how connected I felt to my dad."

2013 REVIEW: JUMPING SHIP FOR THE WOMEN'S MID-AM

The USGA added 13 players to its roster of national champions in 2013, but some of our favorite stories of the year weren’t necessarily about the winning putt or the turning point in a match. This is the last in a six-part series that reviews some of the compelling stories that you might have missed in our 2013 championship coverage.

Lin McMillan never was much for cruises, anyway.

So when she received an email less than a week before the championship that she had earned entry into the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur, it didn’t matter to McMillan that she was on a cruise ship, far from a port of call.

“We left on Saturday and I got the email on Sunday,” said McMillan, of Palm Coast, Fla. “My boyfriend, (David Culver) said, ‘You’ve got to play in it.’ We were out in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.”

2013 Review: In Case You Missed It

True Mate Watt Toils For Goss

Inspired Scheffler Wins U.S. Junior

Senior Open Fans Rally Around Peter Horrobin

Players Connect With Native American Heritage At WAPL

Zack Fischer Goes OT At U.S. Open Sectionals

It took a lot of doing, but McMillan got to the Women’s Mid-Amateur, and she made the most of the opportunity, reaching match play and winning one match before she fell in the second round to 2009 champion Martha Leach, 1 up.

If McMillan wasn’t so determined to play, she might have abandoned the odyssey from the ocean to Asheville, N.C.

She left the cruise ship two days after receiving the initial email, disembarking in Jamaica. She had already bought a plane ticket to Orlando so she could stop at home to pick up her clothes and clubs. Unfortunately, the ticket she purchased was for the wrong airport in Jamaica. She had to rebook and fly out of Kingston. She couldn’t fly directly to Asheville from Orlando, so she went into Greenville, S.C., and drove a van, the only rental option available, the rest of the way. She got a room – only one night was available – and figured she would sort out the rest of it later.

“I started wondering, can this be any harder?” said McMillan, who had been the first alternate out of the Orlando sectional. “I was just so happy to be able to come and play in the tournament, though. This is what golfers are about; you learn how to navigate through anything.”

McMillan has played in several USGA championships, including three in 2012 alone: the Senior Women’s Amateur, the Women’s Amateur Public Links and the Women’s Mid-Am.

“It was worth the trip to play in a USGA event,” she said. “I don’t care where it is; if I have an opportunity to play in it, I’m going to be there.”

McMillan qualified at Biltmore Forest Country Club as the No. 21 seed with rounds of 79-80, then captured her first-round match by a 4-and-3 margin. She faced a familiar second-round foe in Leach.

“We had played each other out at CordeValle in the Senior Women’s Amateur two weeks ago,” said McMillan afterward. “Neither one of us played our A game today, but our match was close, right to the very last putt. I parred No. 17 to get within one, and then I left my putt on the last hole straight in and short from 10 feet. She beat me on the 18th hole – and in the second round – just like two weeks ago. It felt like déjà vu.”

The Women’s Mid-Amateur extended McMillan’s golf schedule to a fourth consecutive week, since she was already planning to play the following week in the Eastern Senior Amateur in Aiken, S.C., followed by the Southeastern Women’s Amateur Team Championship and ending with the Southern Women’s Senior in Tuscaloosa, Ala., at the end of October.

“I’ve got to get home, get packed again and get back in the car,” McMillan said. “This gave me one more week that I wasn’t expecting.”

McElroy to remain amateur until the summer

Dermot McElroy will remain amateur until after next June's British Amateur Championship at Royal Portrush and Portstewart - at the very least.

The 20-year old Ballymena talent made it to the Final Stage of this year's European Tour Qualifying School in Girona but missed the 72-hole cut.

As a result, he failed to win a full Challenge Tour card and while he's determined to join the paid ranks, he's decided to remain amateur until the middle of the summer at least.

"I am going to start the season as an amateur and then decide after the British Amateur," said McElroy, who would get several Challenge Tour starts as well as additional invitations based on his category. "So I will start my season in South Africa at the end of January and then play the Sir Michael Bonallack Trophy in India in March before heading to Sligo for the West."

McElroy will be joined in South Africa for the Free State & Northern Cape Stroke Play Championship (31 January – 2 February) at Schoeman Park Golf Club by Irish Amateur Open champion Robbie Cannon (Balbriggan), Jack Hume (Naas), Gary Hurley (West Waterford), Geoff Lenehan (Portmarnock), West of Ireland champion Rory McNamara (Headfort), North of Ireland winner Chris Selfridge (Moyola Park) and Reeve Whitson (Mourne).

They will then travel to Johannesburg and play in the South African Amateur Stroke Play Championship at Benoni Country Club from 4–7 February, accompanied by National Coach Neil Manchip and Lucan's Tony Goode, the team manager.

McElroy will not be making the trip to Portugal for the Portuguese Amateur Open Championship as it comes just days after he returns from South Africa.

Harry Diamond (Belvoir Park), Robin Dawson (Faithlegg), Paul McBride (The Island) and Richard O’Donovan (Lucan) will tee it up at Montado Golf Resort from 12-15 February. 

However, he has been selected by the European Golf Association to represent Europe in the Sir Michael Bonallack Trophy at Karnataka Golf Association Bengaluru in India from March 26-28 for the biannual match against Asia-Pacific.

McElroy will be joined by University of Alabama and Walker Cup star Gavin Moynihan from The Island with side completed by England's Ashley Chesters and Ryan Evans, Finn Albert Eckhardt, Germany's Dominic Foos and Maximilian Roehrig, Spain's Mario Galiano Aguilar, Scotland's Bradley Neil and James Ross, Italy's Renato Paratore and Denmark's Mads Soegaard.

Elgin golfer's desert date with Tiger and Rory

A FORMER Elgin golfer could be teeing off with sporting giants Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy after landed a dream date in the Dubai desert.

Derek McKenzie will play in January’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic at the luxurious Emirates Golf Club, which attracts some of the sport’s biggest names all vying for a share of the $2.5 million purse.

Originally from Elgin, where his family is still based, McKenzie (42) earned an invite to play in one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world through his friendship with Mohamed Juma Buamaim, the CEO of Golf In Dubai who is a major promoter of the sport in his region.

An ex-schoolboy international who honed his skills at Elgin and Forres golf clubs, his current job as general manager at the Santiburi Samui Country Club in Thailand means the Moray man represents his club on the Asian Development Tour.

But joining the entry list for the Dubai showpiece event – which is part of the European Tour – in its 25th year means McKenzie is set to enjoy the biggest high of his golfing career.

“This will be the highlight of mine, and most golfers’ careers,” he said. “It will be one of the best fields for any European Tour event.

“Also, because it is the 25th anniversary for the event they have invited all past champions to play.”

Previous winners include golfing greats Ernie Els, Mark O’Meara, Fred Couples, Colin Montgomerie and Jose-Maria Olazabal, while the late Seve Ballesteros is set to be represented by his son, Javier.

But World No 1 Woods and McIlroy, the young Northern Irish pretender to his throne, are by far the biggest names confirmed to take part.

The 10 best golf moments of 2013: No. 4, Inbee Park winning three straight majors

Over the next 10 days, until we get to the New Year, we will be rolling out the top-10 best golf moments of 2013. After much deliberation and debate, we picked what we thought were the 10 moments you will remember about this season a decade from now. We continue with No. 4 and Inbee Park's historic run at the majors.

One of the sad states of professional golf is just how little coverage the LPGA gets (and we aren't point fingers as we are just as guilty as others).

If you ever get a chance to go watch an LPGA event you will immediately be impressed at just how good these women are at the game and how fun it is to follow them around. They pound the ball down the middle of fairways, hit irons in the middle of the club and can chip and putt with incredible touch.

If a PGA Tour player would have even come close to accomplishing what Inbee Park did in 2013 it wouldn't have just been headline golf news or even headline sports news, but on the front page of national news all over the world.

Still, what Park pulled off in '13 is one of the greatest golf feats in the modern era, winning three consecutive major championships at the age of 25, becoming just the fourth LPGA player ever to win three majors in a season.

Park started her quest at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, shooting 15-under and winning by four shots. She added a second straight at the LPGA Championship, beating Catriona Matthew in a playoff, and her third in a row came at the U.S Women's Open, again winning by four shots even with a final round 74.

The LPGA added a fifth major in 2013, so Park was in the unique (And slightly awkward) position of winning five majors in a season, but her run stopped at St. Andrews where she finished T-42, following that with a T-67 at the Evian Championship.

How good has Park been in the majors so far in her career? The three wins in '13 takes her career total to four, and in a stretch of 15 majors ending at the U.S. Open in 2013, she finished in the top-10 in 12 of them.

A career-making season, Park can now set her sights on Patty Berg's record of 15 major wins, and it is definitely a possibility if she ever has another season like this one.

Editorial: Ko's new support team had better perform

Former professional golfer John Lister aptly summed up the conundrum posed by Lydia Ko's decision to break with Auckland coach Guy Wilson, who had overseen her rise from a 5-year-old to a golfing phenomenon. The break, he said, was inevitable. But why, he added, do it when nothing in her game obviously needed fixing? The latter view was shared by many who thought it boded ill for her career and was evidence that she was succumbing to the will of management group IMG, with whom she had just signed a big-money contract.

Wilson had every right to feel "incredibly disappointed". He had achieved amazing things with Ko. But the break was, indeed, probably inevitable because of what Ko believes she needs to perform at her best. As she explained, she wanted a coach at tournaments. Therefore, she had approached American-based David Leadbetter who, with his head of staff, Sean Hogan, has been associated with names such as Greg Norman, Seve Ballesteros, Ernie Els, Nick Faldo and Michelle Wie.

Reassurance for Ko would have come from the three days spent with the pair before she won her first professional tournament in Taiwan. Reassurance for her fans should have come from Leadbetter's statement that he did not envisage drastic changes. His job, he said, was "about guiding her, keeping her on track".

Both Leadbetter and IMG have the task of taking Ko to the top of women's golf. They know that, in a cut-throat world, there will also be an inevitable outcome if they fail.