Rose sets sights on Turkey double

Justin Rose is targeting the “double whammy” of the first successful title defence of his career and a return to the top of the world rankings in the Turkish Airlines Open.

Rose spent two weeks as world No 1 earlier this season after finishing second in the BMW Championship, but would love to get back to the summit in style with a second consecutive victory at the Regnum Carya resort in Antalya.

“It would be a great doublewhammy,” said the 38-yearold, who finished third in the defence of his WGC-HSBC Champions title in Shanghai on Sunday. “Last week, I had the opportunity to defend and in Indonesia (in December) I have the opportunity to defend as well as here.

“It’s something I haven’t been able to do many times in my career and that was a goal, certainly for that collective three events.

“I said a while back that I wanted to get to world No 1 by winning golf tournaments so this would be a great place to knock off two big goals of mine, because once you get a taste for being No 1 it’s quite nice and to defend a title would be a special feeling, too. I’m keenly aware of the situation.”

Rose was also a member of Europe’s victorious Ryder Cup team at Le Golf National in September and has backed vicecaptain Padraig Harrington to lead the defence of the trophy at Whistling Straits in 2020.