Solid as a Rock

England's Robert Rock, who went through hoops to secure a visa to make it to the U.S. Open, closed out his week at Congressional with a 3-under 68 on Sunday. It was his best score of the week by two shots.

By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM Contributor

BETHESDA, Md. -- He started the week as a guy with visa problems.

He ended it as a bit of a rising star.

We're talking Englishman Robert Rock, who won the BMW Italian Open last Sunday, got a last-minute visa, flew to Newark, took a car service to Washington, D.C., in the middle of the night and got here at 3:30 a.m. Thursday -- a little more than 13 hours before his first-round tee time.

He ended up tied for 23rd on Sunday, and people are already buzzing about his game and his tousled haircut.

If not for a third-round 76 … well, it's golf and you have to count them all, but finishing at 1 over for the tournament with no practice round and only a rough idea of the course from watching an event on television … get where we're going?

Rock closed with a 68 and will head to Paris Sunday night.

"I hit a lot of good shots," said Rock. "It was a pleasure playing with Lucas (Glover) today. That made it easier. I'm reasonably happy overall. I'm only going to finish 30th (actually, tied for 23rd), which is not what you want when you enter a tournament, and I had better hopes after overcoming the hardest part, which was the first round.

"I'm disappointed because I thought I'd play better golf, but not knowing enough about the place just cost me."

And, he's as impressed with European Tour mate Rory McIlroy as everyone else.

"Yeah, I think Rory is showing what can be done around here," Rock said. "I'm not saying I played anywhere near that good, but I played some decent golf.  If I would have learned a bit more about it, I would have maybe gone a bit more under."

After his whirlwind trip, Rock was ready to slow down a bit.

"My caddie and I are going to have a beer now and chill out before our flight tonight," he said. "I've got a week off to do very little. There won't be much practice done, I don't think. I'll take it easy for at least a few days and then start up again because I've got a big tournament coming up the week after."