DEREK LAWRENSON: Fourth round flop club has a new member in Justin Rose

Updated: 18:37 EST, 28 June 2010

If your favourite golfer happens to be leading the Open at St Andrews next month going into the final round, do not put the champagne on ice. Brace yourself for him playing like he is on ice.

Anyone know why leading in golf with 18 holes to play has suddenly become like leading in cycling ahead of the final sprint? Virtually every tournament of any note so far this season has been won by someone emerging from the peloton to cause the pacemaker's legs to buckle.

Yellow peril: Justin Rose endured a torrid final round at the Travelers Championship on Sunday

Think back to Rory McIlroy shooting 62 to win at Quail Hollow. Or Tim Clark taking 20 putts in the final round to win the Players' Championship.

Then there was Simon Khan's wondrous last day at the PGA Championship at Wentworth, and Graham McDowell's wins in Wales and at the US Open. Not to mention Justin Rose's win at Memorial and Lee Westwood's win in Memphis.

Sometimes, the third round leader can look himself in the mirror and say honestly that there was not much he could do. Then there are others who must wish for the mirror to crack. Either way, it seems you are screwed.

The collapses are getting harder to explain, too, thanks firstly to Dustin and then Justin; namely Dustin Johnson's horror show at Pebble Beach and Rose's wilt at the Travelers Championship on Sunday.

Johnson had won the last two tournaments at Pebble, played imperiously for three rounds, and had a reputation for being nerveless; Rose had got the monkey off his back of winning in America and was playing his best golf in three years. Both led by a useful three strokes with a round to go and yet both did not come remotely close to getting the job done. How does that happen?

Of the last nine major championships to have been played, only one man leading going into the last round has kept his emotions in check sufficiently to win the prize. If your favourite golfer is still Tiger Woods, therefore, you might be the only one who can rest easy with the Open lead on Saturday night.

Come to think of it, if the lead is three or more, skip the ice.

Start drinking.

Have you taken a look at the European Ryder Cup team standings lately? Golfers from the United Kingdom now occupy all but two of the nine automatic spots - and one of those is held by Spaniard Alvaro Quiros by the skin of his teeth over Englishman Ross Fisher.

Forbes magazine's annual celebrity list showing the top 100 earners is out today and expected to show Tiger Woods's earnings, due to the fall-out following his transgressions, have taken a hit of 'at least $30million'. That is going to feel like loose change once the divorce from Elin goes through.

It was supposed to be Michelle Wie who came riding to the rescue of American women's golf. Instead it is Christie Kerr who is leading the cavalry. She showed her iron discipline a few years ago when she lost 60lb in weight.

On Sunday, in the second major of the season, she made her rivals disappear as she claimed the LPGA Championship by 12 shots.

Only six of the last 34 events on the women's tour have been claimed by Americans and Kerr (right) has won three. She has also won two of the four majors picked up by Americans out of the last 14.

Since the world rankings were introduced in 2006, the four players to make it to No 1 were non-American - Annika Sorenstam, Lorena Ochoa, Jiyai Shin and Ai Mayazato. Now, Kerr has taken top spot to complete another milestone.

Just in time for a sport charged with trying to convince American sponsors they should stick with a game dominated by Koreans and Japanese.

Quote of the week:

'I never doubted my ability but I did wonder if my mind was strong enough to win, because I get so emotional.'

American 'Blubba' Watson, as Bubba will now surely be known, can certainly say that again after claiming his first win as a pro on Sunday. He cried so hard and for so long in the aftermath that the course was in danger of being waterlogged.

An American colleague rings for clarification.

'I note in your US Open final round report that you describe Graeme McDowell as being British and yet he plays for Ireland in the World Cup.'

'Correct.'

'I also note the Irish papers describe him as being Irish and yet he is eligible to play for Britain in the 2016 Olympics and could sink the putt that beats Ireland on the final hole.'

'That is also correct.'

'Help.'

Actually, it is simple. In golfing terms, McDowell, like that other Ulster wonder Rory McIlroy, is both British and Irish. Any attempt to make him purely one or the other is bigotry.

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