Rose scents Euro prize is within reach

JUSTIN Rose admits he feels like he stole a victory in last week’s WGC-HSBC Champions, but that will not stop him from trying to pinch the Race to Dubai title from Tommy Fleetwood.

Rose (pictured) came from eight shots behind world number one Dustin Johnson in the final round to win his first tournament of the year in Shanghai, which lifted him from 10th to third on the money list.

The Olympic champion is still more than a million points behind his fellow Englishman, but 985,000 points are on offer for the winner of the Turkish Airlines Open in Antalya, where Rose won the precursor to the event - an eight-man matchplay competition - in 2012.

“Sunday was one of those fortunate days that you get once in a while in your career where you kind of feel like you steal a tournament,” Rose said.

“Starting the day you don’t expect Dustin Johnson to help you out so much, but you kind of know in the back of your mind that if you play a special round of golf, it’s still possible.

“I think maybe we’ve all had a win in our career that’s unexpected and certainly that was the case for me last week. But it was one of those rounds where everything happened for me on the back nine and everything happened just at the right time.”

Asked if ending the year as European number one for a second time had been a major goal before Sunday, Rose added: “Yeah, it was on my mind.

“I was very aware that I needed to play some special golf in my last three events. I’m not playing South Africa next week so for me it was always going to be China, then here in Turkey and then take a week off just to go home and see the children and play Dubai.

“The simple maths was I had to win at least two of them. So part one is done, anyway. But it’s really now about focusing on the next two events that I have to make a difference. I knew that I had to play some great golf to catch Tommy.”