Justin Rose inexplicably hit two shanks in a four-hole stretch on day three of The Open Championship.
And Sir Nick Faldo thinks he knows exactly why Rose did his best impression of a 28-handicap hacker on Saturday at The Open.
Rose talked up the difficulty of Royal Portrush ahead of The Open, but the 44-year-old Englishman has actually performed really well on the whole this week.
He is currently sitting at five-under par after his third round 68, with 18 holes left to play at Portrush.
The only reason why he doesn’t have a chance to win on Sunday is the irrepressible brilliance of Scottie Scheffler.
However, Rose could have been closer to the American if he didn’t hit two shanks completely out of the blue on the 8th and 11th holes on Saturday.
Nick Faldo on why Justin Rose hit two shanks at The Open Championship
Faldo is very astute when it comes to the mechanics of the golf swing.
He spent decades trying to perfect his motion, so it’s no surprise that he spotted a slight issue with Rose’s swing.
Faldo was on commentary duty for Sky Sports, and the six-time major champion lifted the lid on why he thinks Rose is susceptible to the odd shank here and there.
He said: “Are you kidding? Again? Wow. On my last call last night he really leaned into his iron shot. If you lean your head forward obviously that promotes the shank. It’s as simple as that. My goodness! Most guys are making two out of three birdies and he’s had two out of three shanks.“
That makes perfect sense from Faldo. Because Rose’s head leans forward when hitting his iron shots, the hosel of his club can sometimes be overly exposed.
And that is clearly what happened on two separate occasions at Royal Portrush on Saturday.
Justin Rose’s stats from first three rounds at The Open
Rose has chipped and putted really well at Portrush this week.
However, his driving and iron play have both been fairly poor by his standards.
Rose’s stats from The Open this week are a real mixed bag:
| Stats | Rose’s rank |
| Strokes gained off the tee | 51st |
| Strokes gained approach | 115th |
| Strokes gained around the greens | 2nd |
| Strokes gained putting | 18th |
| Strokes gained total | 15th |
A solid round in the 60s on Sunday should be enough for Rose to finish inside the top-15 at The Open.
If he does just that, he will have to chalk the week in Northern Ireland up as yet another successful one.
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