Rose plan to leapfrog Johnson
JUSTIN ROSE is targeting a spectacular double by winning his first Open and becoming world No1 in the process.
The world No3 has Dustin Johnson in his sights at the top of the rankings and could leapfrog the American with victory on Sunday.
“I want to get to world No1 by winning tournaments,” said Rose.
“There could be opportunities in the next six months and I could get there by finishing seventh somewhere because there are always permutations but I want to win the Open, no doubt about it.
“I expect to create an opportunity at some point this week. I guess that’s the self-belief I have at the moment and I’m happy with that.
“Definitely the consistency that I’m playing at now is by far the best I’ve ever had in my career. Sustaining that level of high play, I think, is a mark of all my hard work and experience. I feel like I’ve been on a pretty good run for 10 or 11 months now.” The Englishman has finished in the top 10 in 17 of his last 22 tournaments. He heads into the Open in bullish mood and what he views as the best form of his career – despite his patchy record in the championship.
Rose, who celebrates 20 years as a pro on Friday, has never bettered his fourth-place finish as a teenage amateur at Birkdale in 1998. “I’m comfortable with how bad my record has been here. I don’t feel like there’s a reason for it,” he added.
“I come in here knowing that I can play links golf really well, even though maybe I haven’t threatened in this tournament as much as I would have liked.
“I couldn’t think of a better time to bring everything full circle, if you like, and lift the Claret Jug. I’d take it any year, but 20 years has a nice ring to it.”