Justin Rose targets further success after victory in Hong Kong
Sunday 25 October 2015 12:10, UK
Justin Rose is targeting a strong finish to the Race for Dubai season after claiming his first European Tour victory of the year at the Hong Kong Open.
The world No 7 overcame a two-shot deficit on the back nine to secure a narrow one-shot victory over Lucas Bjerregaard and collect an eighth career European Tour title.
Rose has now moved above Shane Lowry in to fourth spot in the Race to Dubai standings and within 600,000 points of leader Rory McIlroy, giving the 2007 Order of Merit winner confidence heading in to the season-ending Final Series.
"Dubai, especially, is a tournament I've played well at in the past," Rose said. "I've had a couple second-place finishes there. I'd love to break that duck, as well.
"And if you win in Dubai, you've got a great opportunity to wrap things up, so I'm looking forward to the next few weeks."
Victory for Rose followed last week's impressive tied-sixth finish at the PGA Tour's season-opening Frys.com Open and was a significant improvement to his last visit to Hong Kong, where the Englishman missed the cut back in 2011.
Rose battled with Bjerregaard at the top of the leaderboard throughout the weekend and was impressed with how the Dane kept up the pressure over the final two rounds.
"Lucas played incredible golf," said Rose. "It was the first time I had the chance to play with him. I was thoroughly impressed, not just his game but his temperament and how he is as a person.
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"I kept a very clean card all week, with only three bogeys including the 18th. Two three-putts today were the only sloppy ones, but that's a very tough pin on the 18th and when you have a two shot lead you're just trying to get it done.
"I'm very happy to get the job done. I had a chance to win in Napa last week, I was tied for the lead going down the tenth hole and let that one flitter away a little bit. I wanted to hang onto this one."
