Time for golfing Gods to shine on Justin Rose in The Open at Birkdale
Englishman opens up on his career back at the venue where he announced his arrival in game in 1998
If there really is a golfing God, then you get the feeling that he’d be rooting for Justin Rose this week. How fitting, after all, would it be if the Englishman finally got his hands on the Claret Jug at the venue where he announced his arrival in golf.
Rose was just 17 and still in the amateur ranks when he created one of those iconic moments in The Open by chipping in from a pretty ridiculous position at the 18th hole at Royal Birkdale in the final round in 1998 to finish joint-fourth behind Mark O’Meara.
Taking off his cap and looking up to the sky in disbelief, his boyish smile lit up the Southport venue and, on the back of what he’d already achieved to that point in his career, a star had been born.
Nothing, though, comes easy in golf and especially so when you are talking about promising amateurs making the switch to the paid ranks. In his first 21 events as a professional, Rose missed the cut in all of them.
That would have knocked the stuffing out of the majority of people. Not Rose, though. Once he secured a foothold on what is now the DP World Tour, there was no stopping him and, at the age of 45, it might even be said that he is going stronger than ever.
He’s a major champion, having won the US Open in 2013. He’s an Olympic champion, having claimed a gold medal in 2016. He’s been world No 1, having scalped the heights in the Official World Golf Ranking in 2018.
Add in seven Ryder Cup appearances, including five wins, 13 PGA Tour triumphs and 11 DP World Tour victories and, boy, has he fulfilled that potential we saw 28 years ago, even though there may have been some bumps in the road.
“It is a really good question, and it's almost an impossible answer,” admitted Rose to being asked in his-pre event press conference for The 154th Open this week how he viewed his career in reality compared to what he would have envisaged when he turned professional. “But the only way to answer it is would I want to do it again and think I could do better? I think I'd probably say I’ll stick.
“I've had a very good career. Twenty-eight years later I'm playing in The Open Championship. If I think about that, that's an amazing achievement. Just to kind of have the will to keep wanting to be here, I think, more than anything.
“Obviously we've seen with Adam Scott (who played in his 100th consecutive major in last month’s US Open) recently, his longevity and the opportunity to play in these tournaments year after year doesn't come easily.
“Yeah, I'm very happy with where I'm at. Could I have done more? Could I have won more of what I've already won? Yes. Would I love to be a multiple major champion? Yes. Do I feel I could have pushed towards close to a grand slam? Yes. I've had results that nearly put me in that realm. So a little bit of luck here and there, I could be sitting here with a very different career.
“But ultimately, if I look at it, I got to world No 1. I'm a major champion, Olympic gold medalist, FedEx Cup winner. I've kind of achieved pretty much what there is to achieve in the game, albeit once only. But the highlights are great. Would I have just wanted more of it? Of course. Everyone's greedy.
“But, if I had to make a choice, there's a lot of sideways and backwards moves available out here on Tour. Falling down a set of stairs, doing something stupid, whatever it might be, circumstance, life, there's a lot of things that can get in your way over a 28-year career.
“Hopefully I can really use that freedom of being comfortable to work with where I'm at to elevate myself somehow over the next few years to achieve the heights that I just talked about still. So I'm certainly by no means resting on my laurels.”
Back in the top ten in the world, Rose talked about how he is enjoying a “little resurgence” and said he is “enjoying the challenge of staying elite with my game”. In a fabulous interview, he also spoke about how his “love” for the game was his “most important brick in the wall” for him at this stage in his career.
He’s knocked at the door at The Masters, finishing second at Augusta National on no less than three occasions, twice in play-offs. If he was to be offered one more big one to knock off, though, it would be The Open and it would be here this week.
“Yeah, very excited about this one for sure,” admitted the two-time runner-up, most recently to Xander Schauffele at Royal Troon two years ago. “Yeah, The Open Championship for a British player is the pinnacle of the game for sure. It's the one that I would love to win the most, I think, for sure. Obviously given my history, even going back to trying to qualify for the St Andrews Open as a 14-year-old, I've always had a real passion for The Open Championship.
“Yeah, to step through my career and not have a jug at the end of it, I'll always look back at it and go, yeah, that's a shame. But I think The Open Championship offers you the longest runway of an opportunity to win one. So there's plenty of time left.”
Golfing gods, I hope you are listening!
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