Rose refuses to wilt, rebounds from tough loss

England's Justin Rose has gone from being an underachieving twenty-something to a force to be reckoned with on the PGA Tour in the span of a month. His one-shot victory yesterday over Ryan Moore in the AT&T National at Aronimink Golf Club outside of Philadelphia was noteworthy in several ways.

In earning his second victory on American soil in his last three starts on the PGA Tour, Rose showed he could rebound from a difficult loss. It was just one week ago that he blew a three-shot lead in the Travelers Championship on his way to a final-round 75. Yesterday he lost another big lead -- he was five shots clear heading toward the back nine -- but didn't lose the tournament when his lead dwindled to one shot. He hit every green in regulation on the back nine and closed with seven straight pars for an even-par 70, despite three-putting for bogey on Nos. 10 and 11 after having gone 274 holes on the PGA Tour without three-putting.

"I knew having not closed out last week it was important for me -- just for myself -- to do it today," Rose said. "Still, it's never easy to close these things out, I'll tell you."

Moore made sure of that by shooting a day's best 5-under-65 during which he one-putted his last eight greens. But Rose, 29, kept his cool and managed to two-putt for par on the difficult par-3 17th in the heat of the battle. He closed the deal with a par on the closing hole and put a stop to golf writers ready to pile on if he experienced another final-round collapse.

When Rose won Jack Nicklaus' Memorial tournament a month ago by coming from behind and overtaking Rickie Fowler, the U.S. Open exemption deadlines had already passed and Rose failed to qualify for Pebble Beach the next day. He said yesterday he felt as if he played a U.S. Open this week on a course that was firm, fast and demanding.

"This was my U.S. Open the way the course was set up," Rose said.

Aronimink certainly played like a U.S. Open course for defending champion Tiger Woods, who closed with a 71 and finished tied for 46th. It marked the first time he finished a regular PGA Tour event out of the top 40 since he tied for 53rd in The Players Championship five years ago. It also marked the first time he didn't finish any round under par after making the cut in a non-major tour event since 1999.

But Woods still left the course in an upbeat mood. He hit the ball off the tee better than he has all year and his irons shots for the most part were decent. But Aronimink's ridge-laced greens did a number on him. Woods took 120 putts for the tournament, a performance unbecoming of the No. 1-ranked player in the world.

"It does feel good to hit the ball as well as I did this week," Woods said. "I just need to get my putter organized a little better and really work on my putter over there," referring to St. Andrews, where the British Open will be played in two weeks.

Rose, who finished the AT&T National at 10-under 270 and earned $1.08 million, grabbed a spot in the British Open through his rapid rise up the money list. His latest victory moved him up to No. 2 in the FedEx Cup standings behind Ernie Els. Rose also likely crack the top 20 in the world ranking, probably going to No. 16.

Not bad for a golfer viewed by many to be an underachiever just a month ago.

Information from ESPN.com, PGATOUR.com and the Associated Press contributed to this post.