Justin Rose out-duels Mickelson to capture US Open

Justin Rose became the first Englishman to win the US Open since Tony Jacklin in 1970 with a tension-packed par-70 final round Sunday that delivered a two-shot victory at historic Merion.

Rose, who is England’s first major champion since Nick Faldo at the 1996 Masters, used a hybrid to tap the ball from the back edge of the 18th green to an inch from the cup and tapped in for par to finish 72 holes on one-over 281.

Phil Mickelson, the three-time Masters champion who sought his first US Open title after five runner-up efforts, then came to 18 needing a birdie on his 43rd birthday to force an 18-hole Monday playoff with Rose.

No player in the third or fourth rounds had managed a birdie at the fiendish finishing hole and US left-hander Mickelson did not help his chances when his tee shot found the left rough.

Mickelson was short of the elevated green and when his third shot sped past the cup inches to the right, Rose had won his first major title.

Mickelson took a closing bogey and finished in a share of second with Australia’s Jason Day on 283 after a closing 74, his result giving him a sixth runner-up finish at the US Open after 1999, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2009.

Rose, 32, produced his best prior major finish of third at last year’s PGA Championship, although he might have been best known for his share of fourth at the 1998 British Open as a teen amateur.

Over the final holes at a course where Ben Hogan and Bobby Jones collected historic triumphs, the back-nine title hunt came down to Mickelson, Rose, Day and American Hunter Mahan.

Rose missed a 13-foot par putt at the 16th and fell into a share of the lead at one-over with Mickelson and Mahan with Day only one shot back.

At the 15th, Mickelson botched a wedge and he and Mahan each missed long par putts. Mickelson made a two-footer for bogey but Mahan missed from three feet and made double bogey.

Day, the 2011 US Open and Masters runner-up, missed a four-footer for par at the 18th and that left him with a final-round 71 in the clubhouse on 283, level with Mahan but one back of Mickelson and two adrift of Rose, waiting in the fairway behind him.

Rose went just over the back of the green and with a hybrid left the ball one roll from the cup, setting up a tap-in for par to finish a par-70 round and stand atop the leaderboard on one-over 281.

Mahan took a bogey at 17 and only Mickelson could deny Rose from there, but instead, he found only heartache once again.

Mickelson, who led by a shot when the day began, had fallen back early with double bogeys at the third and fifth around a bogey at the par-5 fourth, but he reclaimed the lead at level par with a stunning eagle at the 10th.

The left-hander grabbed a 64-degree wedge from 76 yards away in the right rough and fired the ball into the air. It landed on the green and bounced eight feet from the hole and rolled into the cup.

Mickelson raised his arms upward and jumped into the air in celebration.

But Rose responded with a two-foot birdie putt at the 12th and a 17-foot birdie putt at the par-3 13th to reclaim the lead at one-under, one in front of Mickelson with Mahan another stroke back and Day three adrift.

Rose found a bunker at 14 and missed a 30-foot par putt to fall into a share of the lead with Mickelson, but “Lefty” went over the 13th green on the way to a bogey to put Rose back in front by one shot over the US duo and two over Day, setting the stage for the closing drama.

South Korean-born American Michael Kim, five off the pace at 54 holes, fired a 76 to finish as the low amateur on 290.

World number one Tiger Woods, 10 strokes off the pace after 54 holes, began with a birdie but followed with a triple-bogey 8 on the way to a 74 to finish on 13-over 293 — his worst 72-hole US Open score over par as a professional.

“It was a very good week overall,” Woods said. “I’m just sorry the golf was not where I would have liked it to be.”

England’s Luke Donald hit a woman with his tee shot at the third hole on his way to a bogey and was undone after that. Then he took off his right shoe at the fourth to step into a creek only to chip into a bunker on his way to another bogey on his way to a front-nine 42 that took him out of contention.

American Steve Stricker, who at 46 could have become the oldest champion in US Open history, went out of bounds off the tee and shanked his approach on the way to a triple-bogey eight at the second hole, a career worst one-hole score that helped doom his dream.