Rose in full bloom in Philly

LEAVE THE clubhouse at Merion East, head toward Merion West along Ardmore Avenue, turn right on Darby Road, right again on Sproul Road, left on Bryn Mawr Avenue and finally right on Darby Paoli Road. There, right in front of you, would be Aronimink Golf Club, precisely 7 miles from one clubhouse door in Ardmore to the other in Newtown Square.

Go back in time 3 years and Justin Rose was accepting the trophy for winning the AT&T National at Aronimink. Fast forward to yesterday and there was Rose, playing his 37th major, accepting the Nicklaus Medal and the U.S. Open Trophy after playing nerveless golf down the stretch at unforgiving Merion.

When NBC's Bob Costas had finished asking his post-match questions after the presentation on the 18th green, he asked Rose if he had anything he wanted to add.

"Philadelphia has been my town," Rose said. "I had good support here all week. There were a lot of people in the crowd who remembered me from Aronimink."

When he finished first that scorching July day at Aronimink, his second PGA Tour win, Rose said prophetically: "Winning on the PGA Tour is a steppingstone to winning major championships."

Rose shot 71, 69, 71, 70. His 120th putt of the week was a tap-in on 18.

He retrieved his ball from the cup, kissed his right hand and raised one finger to the sky, remembering his late father Ken, who taught him the game.

Rose had to wait in the Merion clubhouse with his wife Kate for his first major win to become official. Nobody had birdied 18 since Phil Mickleson on Friday. Mickleson stood on 18 as the only man with a chance to tie. His drive went way left and only a miracle was going to deny Rose. There was no miracle.

The 32-year-old Englishman needed no miracle himself. He simply played better than everybody else.

Rose was unlucky to make bogey on 16 after a brilliant approach shot rolled back away from the hole. He needed no luck on 17 or 18. He drove it close enough on the diabolical 17th to get a routine par and then hit a perfect drive down the center of the fairway on 18.

When he took a 4-iron out for his final approach, he was standing on almost the exact spot where Hogan unleashed that 1-iron in 1950. And Rose knew it.

"When I walked over the hill and saw my ball sitting there absolute in the middle of the fairway with the green sitting there waiting to be hit, that image was hard not to escape that this was my turn to kind of have that iconic moment," Rose said.

That it was Father's Day was not lost on Rose. Thus, that signal to the heavens.

"You don't often have opportunities to really dedicate a win to someone you love," Rose said. "Today was about him."

It was the 1998 British Open when a teenaged Justin Rose pitched in on the 72nd hole to get fourth. It seemed like he was on his way before golf reality hit.

Rose had recently mapped out a plan for the next 5 to 10 years that would get him major championships. Now, he has one, perhaps the first of many.

"For the first time I tried and tested it and to come out with the silverware feels absolutely amazing," Rose said. "Going forward, it gives me a little confidence. I don't know if it takes pressure off, but it's just a moment when you can look back and think childhood dreams have come true."

As Mickleson was playing 18, Rose was soaking in the Merion history, "taking a look inside the clubhouse at some of the iconic images in golf, obviously the Hogan 1-iron."

Now, he will be able to remember the Rose 4-iron.

"The silverware and the history books are phenomenal," Rose said. "But it's the moments when you're out there, you're learning about yourself and you're learning how you can handle it. You wonder if you can handle it. Then, you realize you can and you want to experience that feeling again and again and again."

The British Open is next where the 113th U.S. Open champion, the first Englishman since 1970 to win America's championship, will be coming home with a realistic chance.

You win at Merion, you can win anywhere.

Rose came to Merion 2 weeks ago to practice over 3 days and fell in love with the course.

"I saw the place without anybody out here," Rose said. "I think that was a big part of my week when you fall in love with a girl called Merion. I just didn't know her last name."