Justin Rose WINS at Merion for first major as Phil once again falls just short

ARDMORE, PA-Justin Rose won the 113° US Open on a wild Sunday who had four players short of the lead on the final stretch difficult holes at Merion Golf Club. Rose won after pars on the final two holes. The victory was the first major championship of roses. English 32 years had won four times on the PGA Tour before this week. Her best previous finish at a major was third at last year's PGA Championship, but his performance more popular was when he finished fourth as an amateur 17-year-old at the 1998 British Open.

The day began with Mickelson at 1-holding a one-shot lead over Hunter Mahan; Rose was two strokes behind Mickelson, and Jason Day was back to three strokes. Mickelson traded places in the standings for most of the day, with Mahan and day close behind. Mahan and day dropped back with more final six holes each bogeymen. Mickelson was one shot back on hole 18, but missed a long birdie chip give Roses.

Before the tournament, many predicted that it would not be able to withstand the onslaught of today's professionals hit along the relatively short course of Merion. The open was not played to its historic course of suburban Philadelphia since 1981. However, Merion has proven to be a hard test for professionals who struggled with the rough thick and difficult to read greens on the course, and neither player finished under par Rose was 1-over for the tournament after shooting for Sunday. Mickelson shot 74.

One for players to fight in Merion was made favorite Tiger Woods, who finished at 13-over. "I struggled with the speed, especially right around the hole," said Woods. "Putts were breaking a lot more, I gave a little bit more break and then would hang. That's kind of the way it was this week. "

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PGA Tour confidential: Justin Rose WINS u.s. Open, more heartbreak for Phil

Robert Beck, Simon Bruty/sports IllustratedJustin Rose has earned his first career major title by two shots ... While Phil Mickelson brought home a sixth finalist at the US Open. Every Sunday evening, the editors of Golf leads a roundtable discussion by e-mail. Check each week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors and join the conversation in the comments section below.

1. Justin Rose win the US Open, Phil Mickelson or did he lose it?

Gary Van Sickle, senior writer, Sports Illustrated: Justin Rose has won this time. His ballstriking was superior to Phil and all others. Take Phil's hole-the tenth and he anything that doesn't close. Phil did not lose it, but he did not go and win it. Justin did.

Mark Godich, senior editor, Sports Illustrated: Justin Rose has won the open today. Do not shoot even par in the final round and back into nothingness. That said, Phil lost the open on Fridays and Saturdays with all those missed opportunities. It should have been five or six clear of the field when he stepped to the first tee today.

Stephanie Wei, WeiUnderPar.com: Justin Rose has won. Phil lost with those double-bogeymen on the front nine and he did not take advantage of the momentum from the Eagle. Everything is going to make mistakes at the u.s. Open, but Rose has done the best job minimizing his. Wasn't sure how he'd handle the pressure down the stretch. Rose could've * easily * thrown away in those closing holes, but has put up a very brave performance. He raised his 18 and just conveyed, then channeled his inner Ben Hogan on that second shot. He deserves all the credit in the world for that victory.

Jim S-print, senior editor, Sports Illustrated: Rose has won. He hit the shots and putts. Played better down the stretch.

Joe Passov, senior editor, Golf Magazine: travel I regret to say, but Rose has won because historically this tournament goes to the player who makes the fewest mistakes-and it was rose Sunday. Damn, though, the trophy was right there on a plate for Phil-but two terrible wedges pushed tee shots and putts (barely) failure makes you wonder, "what if?"

Jeff Ritter, senior producer, Golf.com: Rose has won. He made clutch Birdie on 12 and 13, and his pars on 17 and 18 were even better. This is heartbreaking for Phil-I think he used that word at least five times in his post round press conference-but he didn't cough up this one. Rosa was simply the best player on Sunday.

Ryan Reiterman, senior producer, Golf.com: You shoot even par Sunday of the u.s. Open, you win. Mickelson was never in control of the tournament enough to suggest that he handed over to Rose.

2. looking at the other names list (Mahan, Donald, Stricker, Fisher, Horschel) was rose as deserving to win, most deserving or not, both from a career perspective and from how he played today?

Van Sickle: It's hard to say that Mahan is deserved when he chopped on the last four holes. The other guys all you fumbled away soon. Rose made five Birdies, one heck of a number at Merion today. The next most deserving could you Jason Day. He showed me something on the back nine. He's got a lot of years ahead of him to win some majors and it will.

Passov: In terms of how he played, rosa was worthwhile. He has no "luck" in something, and his game 18 clutch makes it a worthy winner. But it wasn't like we were all sitting around to question, "When Justin Rose finally is going to win a major?" He was a solid, but not great no. 3 in the world after the Bay Hill and no. 5 arrive at U.s. Open-without a lot of WINS. He was soon hunting in many Major, but rarely with three holes to go. Would have rather seen Stricker, Mahan and Donald ahead of Rose and it would have been nice to see Golf House to ask for Horschel trousers he had grabbed the title.

Ritter: Rose was due to get better at some point. He had already won four times on Tour, with more successful internationally and of course he beat Mickelson head-to-head in that epic Ryder Cup singles match last year. That is a pretty solid pedigree. I thought entry in that day if it wasn't Rose or Phil, might be Fisher, who always seem so unperturbed. I was surprised to see him come over Sunday.

Wei: It was rough to see Steve Stricker make a 8 at the beginning of the round. I think they really deserved a career perspective as he has had a wonderful career still hasn't broken a major. This was probably one of his last chances. Fisher has already an important and Donald and Mahan have had comparable records, but Rose was the only one to step up and win it.

Godich: Career accomplishments have nothing to do with this. On a crowded leaderboard, Rose simply played better than anyone else. He is a deserving champion (and humble).

Reiterman: Rose is without a doubt a worthy champion. He had won only four times on the PGA Tour before his victory at Merion, but talk about four beautiful Trophies-Memorial, national AT&T, BMW and Doral.

S-Print: Totally deserving. He had a good career, with some really good WINS, and took the road difficult after being pronounced a phenom at 17. He had to go and learn to be a professional, a very early transition ever do.

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