Rose hopes to bloom in his 40s
TURNAROUND: HAS BEEN IN AN 18-MONTH DRY SPELL
Justin Rose says turning 40 last week gave him the opportunity to “press the reset button” after a disappointing year and the Briton is looking forward to challenging for seven majors over the next 11 months.
Rose, who won the US Open in 2013 and the Olympic gold three years later, has not won a tournament in the last 18 months and heads into the PGA Championship at Harding Park tomorrow hoping to turn things around.
“My golf has been poor for the last year. But I’ve been in a work phase for the last three, four months and you don’t always see the results,” Rose, who split with his swing coach Sean Foley in June, told The Telegraph.
“But I know they’re coming and feel in a much better place than 12 months ago.
“I was 40 last Thursday... I skipped the WGC in Memphis because I needed that milestone – it’s allowed me to press the reset button.
“My 30s were amazing, having kids and building the bulk of my career, but although outsiders might think, ‘well, he’s got a great life, the major, the gold medal, the Ryder Cup status... what’s left?’ it’s nothing like that. I’m still very hungry.”
The world No 16 said he was looking to hit top form in the three remaining majors this year – the PGA Championship, the US Open and the Masters – and use it as a launch pad for 2021.
“We have seven majors in 11 months. That’s a career’s worth of opportunity and we’re lucky to be playing for it,” Rose said.
“I get miserable when I’m not playing well and it’s in everyone’s interest I rebound... I can come across as laid back, but I’m driven and get very frustrated.”
Rory McIlroy, 31, says the coronavirus shutdown has made him more focused on adding to his tally of four major titles, the last of which came in 2014.
He will also compete in the PGA Championship, the US Open and the Masters. The British Open, the fourth men’s major, was cancelled this year.
“Those were the three, even in quarantine, I was looking towards.
“Once the schedule was set it was those three events I was trying to get ready for,” McIlroy told The Guardian.
“Everything was normal, then we had this massive gap where I had time to think: ‘OK, what are you looking forward to after this break?’ It’s a funny year but I’ve three opportunities to add to my major tally.
“Because of all that’s happened this year, it’s made me focus a little more on just these weeks that are coming up.”
The US Open and PGA Championship will be held behind closed doors. –