Rose eager to get his own back on return to St Andrews

Published>Wed, Jul 14 10 05:16 PM

The last time Justin Rose was at a British Open at St Andrews he was forced to endure a cruel, teasing day at the practice range, hoping one player would drop out and give him the chance he craved.

As first reserve that day five years ago, his opportunity depressingly never came, but after a scintillating run of form which has netted him two U.S. PGA Tour wins, his place in the 156-man field is in no question this time round.

"I was first reserve here in 2005, sat there all day on the driving range, watched everybody tee off," the affable 29-year-old Englishman told reporters at a windswept, rain-lashed Old Course on Wednesday.

"Was here at like six in the morning until four in the evening. It's probably one of the longest fields teeing off wise, so it was a long tough day."

Rose's career has been more or less defined by his travails at his home Open.

In 1998, the fresh-faced 17-year-old amateur burst into the nation's consciousness when an outrageous chipped-in eagle on the 72nd hole at Royal Birkdale grabbed a tie for fourth place.

He turned professional soon after, too soon according to some, and life with the big hitters proved a tough ordeal for the South African-born player.

Rose's inconsistent game meant he also missed the 2004 and 2006 Opens, a forlorn 80 in the second round at Royal St George's in 2003 suggesting his early promise may never quite be fulfilled.

But 2010 has seen the Rose potential really come to the fore, with two victories and one near-miss on the PGA Tour in the last month, and he enters the 150th anniversary championship as one of the tournament favourites.

"Confidence comes with good play, and there's certainly been some of that recently for me to enjoy," said Rose as a howling wind battered the creaking press marquee.

"I really don't feel necessarily that all those good weeks are going to help me all that much on Thursday. Thursday is about a new challenge, a new week, a new golf course.

"But should the week progress nicely and I find myself in contention, then that's when I might be able to draw upon the last few weeks."

Rose played the back nine early on Wednesday before the worst of the weather settled in, and the world number 16 felt his preparation, which had seen pretty much every condition a Scottish summer can throw at you, had been ideal.

"I practised last week with a westerly wind and obviously it's blowing out of the east right now, so I was quite excited to feel like I've played both sets of winds that impact the golf course.

"If we get a little bit of the extreme stuff, then so be it. That's definitely part of an Open championship. You come here at least expecting that it could play a part."

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