THE GOLDEN BOY
Rose loving life back at Wentworth as he seeks ‘massive’ title
HE USED to be the schoolboy who stood on the hill at Wentworth seeking autographs. Now he is the poster boy for the BMW PGA Championship.
No wonder Justin Rose looks at the European Tour’s flagship event in terms of a lifetime’s journey and declares: ‘It really would complete the circle if I were to win.’
Rose is playing in England for the first time since he won golf’s gold medal for Britain at the Olympics last year and there is no happier player in the 150-man field.
He has been to his old stomping ground 20 minutes away at North Hants and had a pint in the Justin Rose room. He has taken his son Leo to see Chelsea get the Premier League trophy, which rather made up for last August when, in the mad Rio aftermath, he had to let his eight-year-old down and miss a match he had promised him.
‘I think he regarded it as a decent swap,’ said Rose, grinning. ‘In fact, I think it might have been the best day of his life. He can’t wait to get home and claim bragging rights among his Arsenal mates, although that might come back to bite him in the FA Cup final on Saturday.’
It is that walk up the steep hill from the 18th green at Wentworth to the clubhouse that always gets to Rose. As ever yesterday it was lined with eager autograph hunters and all the memories came flooding back for the 36-year-old.
‘Seeing all the excited faces is always a good moment for me and a realisation of how far I’ve come because that was me 25 years ago, hoping the stars would stop and sign something,’ he said. ‘It makes it a real bucket-list tournament to win, one of the six best events as far as I’m concerned, and that’s including the majors.’
It might never have looked better than this year, with wall-towall sunshine, the course in great condition and an amphitheatre around the 18th green that would grace any tournament anywhere.
As for Rose, the world No 9, it has been a year filled to date with close finishes but no victories, exemplified by the epic duel with Sergio Garcia at the Masters, which he lost in a sudden-death play-off. Rose said afterwards it would sting and admitted that, a few weeks on, he still had painful flashbacks.
‘I think the best way to describe it is to say I don’t wake up every morning with a hole in my heart,’ Rose said, ‘but there are moments when you do think to yourself along the lines of, “Wow, that was one that got away”.’
Rose will certainly not lack for support, although the 20,000-plus crowd expected each day will be rather spoiled for choice. No fewer than 35 other Englishmen have qualified to play alongside Rose and defending champion Chris Wood.
Not that they will have things all their own way. Not with men like Henrik Stenson in the field. The Open champion is making his first appearance for three years and the Swede underlined why he was such a popular winner of the Claret Jug when asked by Sportsmail whether he felt a responsibility to be here.
‘Of course,’ he said. ‘It’s a massive tournament in Europe and the Open champion should be playing.’
What a week in prospect. Just don’t forget the sun cream.