ROSE: I’M READY TO LAND THE SPECIAL ONE
Justin believes this is his time
Justin Rose’s bag man Mark Fulcher gave his close friend Gareth Lord one instruction when handing over the caddie’s reins in January while he had heart valve surgery.
‘When i come back, just make sure he’s still world no 1,’ Fooch, as he’s known to all and sundry, told Henrik stenson’s old caddie.
What a nice scene, therefore, when Masters Monday dawned with Fooch back on the bag for the first time since his operation, and the latest world rankings showing Rose dislodging Dustin Johnson from top spot in time for the season’s first major.
Fooch is keeping his own counsel in terms of his return, not wanting his own situation to be a distraction as Rose goes in search once more of the major he’s long seemed destined to win at some stage. His pleasure at being back, however, was obvious as they walked nine holes in the company of Adam scott, who lives around the corner from Rose in the Bahamas.
‘it’s good to have Fooch here,’ said Rose of the man who’s been by his side for over a decade now. ‘i know the time has seemed to pass very slowly for him, but we’ve communicated a lot and he’s been out to stay with me a couple of times. He also came to the Match Play in Austin recently to get the back-slapping out of the way and to see people again. He’s ready to get back to work.’
this is Rose’s 14th Masters and during that time he’s done everything bar wear a green jacket. He has never been placed outside the top 40 and only twice outside the top 25. He’s led after the first, second and third rounds, and was even tied for the lead after 72 holes in 2017 before losing a play-off to sergio Garcia. He was also runnerup in 2015 to Jordan spieth. ‘ Golfers often talk about courses that suit their eye and that is how i have always felt about this place,’ said the 38-year-old englishman. ‘in 2015, Jordan holed everything so there wasn’t much i could do about that, but i think in 2017 it was flip-of-the-coin stuff. ‘that was the first heartbreaker for me in terms of being close to a major and not winning. in my own head i dealt with it by telling myself that every player has to go through something like that, but it was a downer for a while when people kept reminding me about it. it keeps you hungry, though, and helps with the motivation.’ Having achieved every game,
everything else in the game, it is all about the majors now for Rose and seeking to add to his solitary major victory at the us open in 2013. this year he has played a deliberately light schedule to this point in order to be fresh for the new compressed schedule that will see all four majors take place over the next 14 weeks.
Asked how many he hoped to win before he’s done, he smiled and responded: ‘i’d be very happy with four, as long as it’s one of each, but i’m not getting ahead of myself. Right now, i just would love to be able to call myself a multiple major champion.’
Rose’s 20 rounds of competitive
golf so far this year have brought a win in California in January and a top 10 at the Players Championship last month, with a few not so good scorecards thrown in as well. ‘i’d say there’s been enough good rounds to build my confidence but enough poor ones to keep me on my toes,’ he said. ‘i think sometimes you need that. it helps to keep you sharp.’
oddly enough, no world no 1 has won the Masters since tiger Woods in 2002 and before tiger you have to go all the way back to ian Woosnam and Fred Couples in 1991 and 1992 to find the only previous times the top dog has come out ahead.
But Rose exudes the quiet
confidence of a man who knows he is No 1 for a reason and playing on a course that fills him with belief.
‘I think the comfort came early for me here,’ he said. ‘I remember leading after the first and second rounds in only my second appearance in 2004, and then I shot 81 in the third round.
‘It was obviously disappointing at the time, but I gained such great insight that year in both how to play the course and how not to play it. And since then I’ve just built on that year on year, adding layer on layer. I just like the shots that you have to play out here.’
This is the fourth time that rose has been world No 1 but each time it has only been by fractions. ‘I don’t think I’ve had my run at the top yet, where I’ve separated myself from the rest like we’ve seen rory do in the recent past, and DJ (Johnson) on occasion over the last 18 months,’ he argued.
There could, of course, be no better place than here to start.