Justin Rose targets late Race to Dubai challenge after Shanghai win
Wednesday 1 November 2017 14:24, UK
Justin Rose has set his sights on a late challenge for Race to Dubai victory ahead of the Turkish Airlines Open.
The Masters runner-up bolstered his hopes of ending the year as European No 1 with a dramatic victory at last week's WGC-HSBC Champions, overturning an eight-stroke deficit on the final day to claim a two-shot win in Shanghai.
Rose's first victory since winning Olympic gold last summer lifted him to third in the Race to Dubai standings, with the Englishman trailing Tommy Fleetwood by just over a million points with three tournaments of the season remaining.
The world No 6 isn't scheduled to appear at next week's Nedbank Challenge, but believes he can do enough in Turkey and Dubai to have a chance of winning a second Order of Merit title.
"I was very aware that I needed to play some special golf in my last three events," Rose told a pre-tournament press conference. "It was certainly on my mind and I knew that I had to play some great golf to catch Tommy (Fleetwood).
"I'm not playing South Africa next week. For me, it was always going to be China, then here in Turkey and then obviously take a week off just to go home and see the children and play Dubai.
"The simple math was I had to win at least two of them. Part one is done, anyway. It's really now about focusing on the next two events that I have to make a difference, starting this week."
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985,000 points are on offer for the winner of this week's event in Antalya, where Rose won an eight-man matchplay competition in 2012, with 29 players still having a mathematical chance of Race to Dubai victory ahead of the three Rolex Series events.
"It matters because you've beaten the best players in Europe and for the most part the best players in the world," Rose added. "If you can win a tournament you've beaten the guys over a week and that's fantastic. But a lot of guys can have hot weeks.
"If you win over the course of a season, that speaks volumes. I think to measure your game over the course of a year tells you that you've really been solid and you've really achieved something special."
Watch the Turkish Airlines Open throughout the week live on Sky Sports Golf. Live coverage begins on Thursday from 9am.
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