Justin Rose produced the biggest comeback of the season to win his tenth European Tour title on a dramatic final day of the WGC-HSBC Champions.
The Englishman was eight shots behind World Number One Dustin Johnson – who was six clear at the top of the leaderboard – when he teed off and remained six behind at the turn after playing his first nine holes at Sheshan International Golf Club in level par.
Rose then produced five birdies in a stunning back nine of 31 to get to 14 under after a 67, with Johnson slumping to a closing 77.
Johnson finished in a tie for second at 12 under alongside fellow American and reigning US Open champion Brooks Koepka and Sweden’s Henrik Stenson.
The victory is Rose’s second World Golf Championships title after the 2012 WGC-Cadillac Championship which started his run of six consecutive seasons with a European Tour victory – the longest active streak on Tour – and moves him up to third in the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex.
Any thoughts of a procession for overnight leader Johnson were quickly forgotten when he got in bunker trouble to drop a shot on the first and then lost his ball off the second tee for a bogey-bogey start.
Rose took advantage of the par five second and when he holed a lengthy double-breaker over the ridge on the third, he was alongside Koepka four shots back.
Johnson failed to record a single birdie all day and made a total of five bogies, while Rose’s flawless back nine, which included five birdies, put him in the driving seat.
Rose played a stunning bunker shot on the 16th to share the lead and he briefly held it on his own after Johnson hit a poor tee-shot and found sand with his second for a bogey.
Stenson joined Rose on 13 under after driving to just short of the green and getting down in two but Rose put his tee-shot on the 17th to three feet and led on his own.
Stenson bogeyed the penultimate hole and Koepka was the only one of the leading contenders to birdie the last for a 71, with Stenson recording a 70 and finishing second at this event for the second consecutive season.
Spaniard Rafa Cabrera Bello and Americans Peter Uihlein and Kyle Stanley finished at eight under, a shot clear of Brian Harman and two ahead of England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick and Austrian Bernd Wiesberger.
Player quotes
Justin Rose: “It’s the kind of day you certainly don’t expect. It’s the kind of day you hope for, dream for but a lot of things need to go your way in order for a day like today to happen coming from eight shots behind, especially going against a player like DJ.
“It was the perfect type of weather conditions to make a comeback. This is the type of day, when you are playing with a lead, every hole seems difficult. Obviously someone is still capable of playing a special round of golf.
“And obviously my back nine was just amazing today. It was one of the best back nines I’ve played in a long, long time, and to do it at the right time was amazing. I guess everything fell into place, and like I said, I needed a lot of things to go my way, including my good play but also I needed a little bit of help from DJ and on a day like today, it was easy for a leader to make some mistakes.
“I’ve got to stay quite focused at the moment because this win gives me the opportunity to do very well in The Race to Dubai, so Turkey becomes a very important tournament for me, and so this has kind of made things even more focussed now for the rest of the season.”
Henrik Stenson: “I’m very happy with the week and the way I played in general. I came here looking for a bit of form and some answers, and I think I got a lot of them. Still a work-in-progress.
“I wouldn’t say I’m playing my best, but I hit a lot of good shots and kept it together in tough conditions both yesterday and today. The good stuff’s really good and there’s still a few things that we can improve on, but all in all, I’m very happy with the way I played. We came very close. We were right up in contention and that’s where we want to be.
“So yeah, it was a nice way to start this four-week trip and hopefully we can carry on this momentum in the next three weeks.”
Dustin Johnson: “Well, it was tough conditions today. Felt like I actually drove it pretty well, other than the drive on twp, which I hit a good shot. I don’t even know what happened. It just came up a little bit short. I thought I hit it perfect. But still ended up making a good six.
“And even making the turn obviously, I’m 2-over, which is fine. I know I’ve got to just play solid on the back nine. I didn’t make any putts. I felt like I rolled it good. Just nothing was going in the hole. Hit a couple really bad iron shots. That was probably the key there on 14. I just chunked it.
“I mean, I felt fine all day. I just could never get anything going and didn’t hole any putts. It was pretty simple.
Round four results
274 J Rose (Eng) 67 68 72 67,
276 D Johnson (USA) 68 63 68 77, B Koepka (USA) 64 68 73 71, H Stenson (Swe) 68 69 69 70,
280 R Cabrera Bello (Esp) 68 70 70 72, P Uihlein (USA) 72 67 69 72, K Stanley (USA) 71 68 69 72,
281 B Harman (USA) 68 69 70 74,
282 M Fitzpatrick (Eng) 68 69 72 73, B Wiesberger (Aut) 71 70 70 71,
283 P Casey (Eng) 71 72 69 71, T Hatton (Eng) 68 70 71 74, T Finau (USA) 67 72 74 70, J Day (Aus) 69 74 72 68,
284 P Mickelson (USA) 71 72 74 67, P Cantlay (USA) 68 74 69 73, D Kataoka (Jpn) 71 72 69 72, C Howell Iii (USA) 72 67 71 74, B Grace (RSA) 74 69 72 69,
285 T Fleetwood (Eng) 71 70 70 74, W Ashun (Chn) 67 72 73 73, H Tanihara (Jpn) 72 70 74 69, J Vegas (Ven) 70 73 72 70,
286 K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 65 70 75 76, P Perez (USA) 72 69 76 69, D Berger (USA) 68 71 75 72, C Reavie (USA) 69 74 71 72, H Ryu (Kor) 69 73 69 75, P Saksansin (Tha) 73 70 68 75, M Southgate (Eng) 68 71 74 73,
287 S Chawrasia (Ind) 72 70 73 72, A Levy (Fra) 71 71 71 74, T Olesen (Den) 72 73 69 73, A Noren (Swe) 72 72 72 71, M Kuchar (USA) 67 70 72 78,
288 R Henley (USA) 75 68 76 69, J Rahm (Esp) 72 74 69 73,
289 P Dunne (Irl) 67 73 70 79, M Leishman (Aus) 71 79 68 71, L Wenchong (Chn) 72 70 73 74, R Sterne (RSA) 73 72 76 68, H Porteous (RSA) 66 74 74 75, G Green (Mas) 65 74 73 77,
290 Z Xinjun (Chn) 71 77 71 71, R Ramsay (Sco) 73 71 75 71,
291 R Fox (Nzl) 71 69 75 76, P Khongwatmai (Tha) 69 78 70 74, F Molinari (Ita) 77 71 72 71, X Schauffele (USA) 71 75 74 71,
292 F Zanotti (Par) 73 71 71 77, H Swafford (USA) 70 74 75 73, C Schwartzel (RSA) 73 70 73 76, L Haotong (Chn) 72 76 71 73, A Scott (Aus) 72 72 74 74, P Reed (USA) 66 70 82 74, H Matsuyama (Jpn) 74 74 72 72, L Glover (USA) 71 75 76 70,
293 D Lipsky (USA) 69 70 72 82, J Smith (Eng) 69 73 74 77, R Fisher (Eng) 77 70 73 73, C Kim (USA) 69 72 72 80,
294 B Haas (USA) 71 73 76 74, S Hend (Aus) 71 68 78 77, W Bryan (USA) 77 72 71 74,
295 A Hadwin (Can) 69 74 79 73, M Hendry (Nzl) 73 75 71 76,
296 M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 71 71 77 77, M Griffin (Aus) 68 77 74 77,
297 D Zecheng (Chn) 71 76 75 75, S Kim (Kor) 71 71 79 76,
299 G Storm (Eng) 75 74 75 75, T Pieters (Bel) 75 79 69 76,
300 L Yanwei (Chn) 72 73 77 78,
301 A Hall (Aus) 74 71 80 76,
304 A Dodt (Aus) 74 79 74 77,
308 B Stone (RSA) 78 87 68 75,
311 C Yi (Chn) 74 83 79 75,
151 S Imahira (Jpn) 72 79 DQ 0,
