WITH A tear in his eye, Justin Rose pointed towards the sky and blew a kiss to the heavens.

The Hampshire golfer had just tapped in at the last hole of the US Open and, after 15 years of trying, was finally about to capture one of the sport’s four major titles.

It was a moment that marked the pinnacle of his career so far, but it came tinged with sadness, as the biggest influence on his journey to that point was not there to witness it.

Rose’s father and mentor, Ken, passed away 11 years ago, aged 57, after being struck by leukaemia. But, while he might not have been at Philadelphia’s Merion Golf Club, Rose was still determined that this was a victory that should be shared with him.

“The look up to the heavens was absolutely for my dad,” he said. “That was my time, the clouds had parted.

It was just a beautiful evening.

And the way it worked out, I felt like I needed to do that.”

In a poignant and poetic twist, Rose’s victory also happened to arrive on Father’s Day.

“That was not lost on me,” he said. “This was about him and being Father’s Day.”

Throughout his life, Ken Rose had been his son’s biggest supporter, handing him his first plastic golf club when he was only 11 months old and helping to guide him through his junior years, as Rose developed into one of the country’s top amateur players.

Rose had been born in Johannesburg, but the family moved to Fleet, in Hampshire, when he was just five-years-old.

Daily Echo: Justin Rose admires the US Open trophy

 

It was in this county that he honed his skills, first at Hartley Wintney Golf Club and then North Hants. He was just 11 when he played a round in less than 70 strokes for the first time – a benchmark that golfers of all ages dream of reaching. By 14, he was playing off a handicap of plus-three (averaging three shots below par for each round).

After 15 years of trying to win the coveted US Open, Hampshire golfer Justin Rose finally triumphed.

Gordon Simpson reportsA student at the Robert May’s School, in Odiham, he would go on to represent Great Britain & Ireland in the 1997 Walker Cup, before famously shooting to prominence on a national level a year later, holing his approach shot to the 18th on the final day of the Open Championship, at Birkdale, as the then 17- year-old amateur finished in a tie for fourth place.

Rose then endured a torrid and mentally-scarring start to his professional career, missing his first 21 cuts, but he came through that spell and, after hearing of his dad’s cancer diagnosis, was spurred on to make the best of his ability.

Ken was still alive for his son’s first win as a professional, at the 2002 Dunhill Championship, in South Africa.

 

“I was 21 when he passed away and I always think about it as the time together we had was quality not quantity,” said Rose, who moved to Florida in 2004, as he began to play regularly in the United States. “I would rather have had 21 fantastic years with my dad than 40 years of a relationship that was so-so.

“My dad and I were lucky enough to spend a lot of quality time together learning to play the game, after school on the driving range, so I can look back at our life together with a lot of fondness.”

Rose’s close friend and former Hampshire teammate Matt Blackey said: “Justin is the man he is today because of the way Ken and Justin’s mum, Annie, have raised him. He is a credit to them and to win on Father's Day is about as fitting as it gets.”

European Tour professional Richard Bland, from Southampton, echoed those thoughts: “I’m sure that Ken is up there probably the proudest of us all.”

The legacy left behind by Rose’s dad is evident in many ways.

As well as setting up a charity in Ken’s honour, Rose and his wife, Kate, also have their own foundation dedicated to improving children’s lives.

Blackey added: “He is a great person who does a huge amount for others less fortunate than him.”

Justin and Kate, who married in 2006, have two children together themselves – Leo, who was born in 2009, and Charlotte, who arrived last year.

Rose had the names of both stitched into his shoes for the US Open.

“A lot of us come from great men and we have that responsibility to our children to show them what a great man can be, and that was my goal, to carry myself in a way that I could be proud of when I came off the golf course,” he said.

Rose’s other biggest supporter, his mum, Annie, was not in Pennsylvania for his win, as she was helping to look after his sister, who was due to give birth.

“I texted my mum late (on Saturday) night and I said, ‘Let’s do it for dad’,”

revealed Rose, who was propelled up to number three in the world rankings as a result of his win and has now earned well in excess of $30m in prize money during his career.

“She just simply texted me back ‘That would be fantastic.’ “I did get hold of her after my round and we both were in floods of tears. She misses him immensely. I miss him immensely.”

Rose will be comforted, however, at just how proud his dad would be to see him now standing on top of the golfing world.