Ice man Rose takes leaf out of Andy’s book
Murray regime helps hunt for majors
WHEN Justin Rose comes off the course these days one of the first things he does is retreat to his hotel room and run a bath. An ice-cold bath.
‘Andy Murray has a lot to answer for,’ says the Englishman, smiling.
Britain’s leading golfer has been studying the methods of Britain’s leading sportsman for the reasons why he has remained relatively injury-free despite such a demanding playing environment. Lending urgency to Rose’s research is the fact he is coming off a year heavily disrupted by back trouble, an ailment for which Murray had successful minor surgery in 2013.
At 36, Rose knows he can’t afford another season like the last one. The march of time and the impressive strides made by England’s young golfers make for a powerful twin source of motivation.
‘I know I’ve got a target on my back for the likes of Matt [Fitzpatrick] and Tyrrell [Hatton] but that just adds to the hunger,’ said Rose. ‘They’re at the top of the game now and that’s brilliant but it makes me conscious of this five-year window I’ve got until I reach 40. I want to ramp things up and that means making dramatic improvements in my recovery protocol before and after rounds. I’ve never asked Andy what he does but I’m aware of how he stays fit through the grapevine. It’s that diligence he has before and after matches and I can learn a lot. The ice baths are not pleasant but they’re helping. It’s also hot and cold showering, physio, massage, meditation and stretching.
‘It’s very easy to come off the course, go to the hotel, throw some food down and go asleep. But a bit of creep happens overnight to the body, you come out the next morning and don’t warm up properly, and suddenly you pick up an injury. If I take care of things morning and night, day after day, week after week, I know my body is going to be much more resilient.’
When he’s fit and confident, of course, Rose is a match for anyone, as he showed with that epic victory over Open champion Henrik Stenson in Rio last August to win the Olympic gold medal and save his season. ‘What a gift that was looking back, the thing that made it the greatest bad year ever,’ he said, wryly.
Rose has made an encouraging start to this campaign, with two top-four finishes in three starts on the West Coast swing.
‘I could have started in the Middle East but after finishing last season with an injury it’s about taking it easy on the body and making smart choices,’ he said. ‘I’m fit again and want to consolidate on that and build up a good run of form heading to the Masters.’
Symptomatic of the fact it’s all about the majors for Rose is that he is skipping the lucrative WGC-Match Play Championship — laden with world ranking points — taking place a fortnight before Augusta in favour of the low-key Houston Open the following week. ‘I’ve learned the Masters is a major you can think about too soon,’ said Rose, who won the US Open in 2013.‘I played in Houston two years ago and finished runner-up to Jordan Spieth at Augusta. I feel like match play is a week of the unknown, whereas playing Houston I can control the variables more, and move smoothly to the Masters.’
The other event he is anticipating with relish is The Open at Royal Birkdale, where he finished fourth as a 17-year-old amateur in 1998, holing a dramatic pitch shot to the 18th in the final round. ‘It will be great going back — particularly as it will not be the first time since 1998 and there will only be the odd question about back then,’ he said. ‘I love the course and see no reason why I can’t do well.’