Tour Championship: Justin Rose hopeful of FedExCup repeat
Wednesday 21 August 2019 19:41, UK
Justin Rose has not given up hope of defending his FedExCup title as he aims to end his PGA Tour season on a high at the Tour Championship.
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Rose arrives at East Lake looking to become the first player to win the FedExCup in successive years, having topped the standings last season after a tied-fourth finish in the season finale.
The Englishman is 17th in the FedExCup standings and will start the week on two under, eight strokes back from leader Justin Thomas, but hasn't given up on winning the $15m jackpot.
"There's a couple of Justins that have gone back to back, but not the same person," Rose said. "With Justin Thomas' position this year, it could be a three-peat for our name, but I'm going to try and give him a run.
"I start at two under, so you look at it two [shots closer to the lead] a day. The way I look at is that five guys are five under and better, so one of those guys is going to play great. That puts it at maybe 13 under plus [to win].
"This is a golf course where guys haven't gone terribly low over the years but I think for me, for all of us guys chasing, the first day will be important. You can't give up more shots.
"If I can kind of whittle into the lead and I can pull two or three back on day one, your eye is on the prize. If I slip back 10 or 11 after day one, suddenly you're thinking about how to get the most out of the week."
The radical new format for this year's season finale sees players given a stroke-based advantage according to their position in the standings, with Rose intrigued to see how the new system works.
"If I was in the same position, I probably had a better chance to win in the old format," Rose said. "But I think there's much less protection now for the leading players too.
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"If you were leading the FedExCup in the past and you had a poor week, you'd finish maybe second, possibly third in the FedExCup. You have a poor week now, you can finish 12th, 15th, 18th, 20th.
"There's a lot more volatility, I think, with this format, which is what play-off golf is all about, I guess. It's the guys basically bringing their best golf when it counts the most. It's going to be interesting to see if the guys behind play with more freedom."
Who will win the FedExCup? Watch the Tour Championship throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Live coverage begins on Thursday live from 6pm on Sky Sports Golf.
