Scottish Open preview
Rose now feels Open glory is in his sights
FORGET Birkdale? Two decades on, Justin Rose has rid himself of any desire to wipe away the memories of his spectacular Open breakthrough.
As he pursues a second major title to go with his 2013 US Open triumph, however, Rose is candid about the immediate — and detrimental — consequences of his famous fourth-placed finish as an amateur in the summer of ’98.
Turning professional immediately, he missed 21 consecutive cuts before finally gaining a foothold — and then marching on to greatness.
Skewed expectations, it seems, wrecked a carefully-crafted plan to work his way into the ranks of paid golfers.
‘I think for a long time — five, six, seven years of my career — I was trying to live up to that boy who finished fourth at The Open,’ admitted Rose, currently ranked third in the world.
‘I put that to bed, at least in my mind, and I’ve gone on to achieve good things in the game — and justified that performance and justified turning pro. You know, it’s all worked out.
‘What happened at Birkdale didn’t make my plan any easier, actually. The plan was I had seven invites lined up.
‘Obviously, I was hoping to get my card but I had a realistic three-year plan.
‘The idea was to get some golf under my belt to turn pro for Q-School. I end up a year or two on the Challenge Tour and, after three years, the plan was to have a full card on the European Tour.
‘Birkdale happened and suddenly I was thinking about winning the Dutch Open the next week.
‘I think the three-year plan, I had to revert back to that (when I was missing cuts). Obviously, after Birkdale, I got ahead of myself.
‘ Yeah, there were definitely times where I was doubtful, for sure. But I tried to take The Open completely out of the equation.
‘The Open was a skewing factor and I just said to myself: “Forget Birkdale. Who are you? What are you? A talented young golfer, done this, this, this, that’s pretty good. Surely, if I work hard, things are going to be okay.”
‘So I just put my faith in that, really. There was a period of time where I did go and play some Challenge Tour events.
‘Although I did miss 21 European Tour cuts in a row, I did make cuts at a lower level — that also just kept the confidence going and just gave me enough belief that it wasn’t all so desperate.’
Rose’s career to date has seen him excel all over the world, equalling Sir Nick Faldo’s record of nine tournament wins on the PGA Tour — and regularly winning on the European Tour.
The 2014 Scottish Open champion has never bettered that debut finish in the Open Championship, however. His desire to lift the Claret Jug has not been diminished by success elsewhere.
‘It’s been a great 20 years obviously but, yeah, I really feel like there’s an opportunity now for me to make it something special,’ he explained. ‘I’m missing, obviously, an Open Championship. I would love to be a multiple major winner.
‘It’s nice to have that monkey off my back, having won one. But I’m beginning to crave more chances.
‘An Open would be amazing, another major, but more of the same. Keep creating good looks in these big events.
‘You start edging towards a Hall of Fame career then when you win multiple majors, for sure.
‘I’m not sure if that’s a written rule but typically it seems like, if you win a couple of majors, you begin to get your way in there. That’s a difference, because a lot of guys have won one major.
‘I feel like my career has been one major and a lot of other good stuff, which is nice — but just one major.
‘It’s obviously great but I haven’t really kicked on from that point of view.
‘I think winning the second is very important just in terms of, yeah, where you’re perceived in the history of the game.’
Rose is part of a marquee group for the first two rounds of the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open, playing alongside Rickie Fowler and Hideki Matsuyama — teeing off at 9am today.
For years I was trying to live up to the boy who finished fourth at Birkdale