Justin Rose controlled his own destiny regarding whether he would snatch back the top spot in the world ranking and be the last man standing at the end of a 2018 season in which five different players were once No.1. A two-way tie for 16th or better at the Indonesian Masters, a tournament in which he won by eight strokes the previous year, would allow him to leap Brooks Koepka. A T-12 or better would mean he would remain No.1 come January 1, 2019.
In the end, Rose surprisingly achieved neither. A closing three-over 75 at Royale Jakarta Golf Club dropped the 38-year-old Englishman from a tie for fourth place entering the final round to a three-way tie for 17th, leaving him just behind Koepka at No.2 in the world ranking.
Rose started slowly on Sunday, with two bogeys and a double-bogey in his first five holes, but seemed to get things turned around with birdies on the ninth and 10th holes. Then came the par-5 12th hole, where he posted a triple-bogey 8.
Another bogey on the 13th put him six-over for the day, and meant that the three birdies he carded on the final five holes were too little, too late. Rose, who ended up 14 strokes behind winner Poom Saksansin of Thailand, more ignominiously finished one stroke out of the 12th-place showing needed to pass Koepka.
This wasn’t the first near-miss for Rose in claiming the top spot back for the third time in the past six weeks after becoming world No.1 for the first time in September. Two weeks ago at the Hero World Challenge, Rose needed a tie for second. He rallied with an impressive closing 65, but when Tony Finau made a birdie on the 72nd hole to grab second alone, it left Rose just shy of passing Koepka.
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Even more interesting is this nugget from Twitter’s noted world ranking expert:
All credit to @JustinRose99 and team🌹for travelling to the other side of the world to defend his title at #IM2018. It would've been very easy to just stay home, which would've lifted him automatically to No.1 in the world after this week and until the end of the year… #OWGR
— Nosferatu (@VC606) December 16, 2018
Here’s how the final top 10 for 2018 is expected to look:
1. Brooks Koepka
2. Justin Rose
3. Dustin Johnson
4. Justin Thomas
5. Bryson DeChambeau
6. Jon Rahm
7. Francesco Molinari
8. Rory McIlroy
9. Tony Finau
10. Xander Schauffele
Jason Day is projected to remain as the top-ranked Australian (14th), ahead of Marc Leishman (20th), Cameron Smith (27th) and Adam Scott (41st).
