Justin Rose moves inside the top 10 in the FedExCup standings and back in the world's top 50 after claiming a three-shot victory at Pebble Beach; first PGA Tour win since 2019 also earns Rose a place at The Masters and PGA Championship
Tuesday 7 February 2023 10:56, UK
Justin Rose has set his sights on making a push for Europe's next Ryder Cup team after securing his major status with victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
The former world No 1 ended a four-year winless run with an impressive three-shot triumph at Pebble Beach, carding a final-round 66 to end the week on 18 under and claim an 11th PGA Tour victory.
Rose went into the week as the world No 71 and in danger of missing out on a place at The Masters for the first time since 2010, although victory means he has now guaranteed a return to the opening men's major of the year along with May's PGA Championship at Oak Hill Country Club.
"Augusta has definitely been a big part of being on my mind," Rose said. "I thought the simple way to approach it was try to play my way into the top 50 in the world by whenever the date is, sometime in March.
"I think my world ranking divisor is only 37, so I had a few free hits, if you like and I knew that making some points was going to do me good.
"My intention was to come out and play solid and earn some points and claw my way up the World Rankings and make it that way. This is a better way to make it - by winning a tournament! It's funny how you, by winning, earn the points and everything takes care of itself.
"Yeah, a big relief from that point of view to be able to plan a little bit more of the run into Augusta now. Because I was playing a little bit more than maybe I would have wanted to because of that fact. But to have the luxury now is unbelievable."
The Englishman narrowly missed out on being selected for Europe's Ryder Cup team in 2021, where they were beaten by a record-breaking margin at Whistling Straits, although the 42-year-old hopes to be part of Luke Donald's line-up in Rome this September.
Rose's victory moves him ninth in the World Points list on Europe's year-long qualification campaign, running until September, and he is hoping to either be one of the six automatic qualifiers or the six captain's picks to complete Donald's side at Marco Simone GC.
Team Europe is likely to change significantly for the 2023 contest, with several stalwarts switching to LIV Golf and having limited playing opportunities to earn qualification points, while Rose has been focused on finding form again before turning his attention to a potential sixth Ryder Cup appearance.
"The way where I've been with my game, I've had to be quite selfish and just focus on me and focus on my improvement and what I need to do to start playing better golf," Rose added. "I haven't even entertained what the Ryder Cup looks like for me, other than I want to be there.
"I felt like what was really important to me was getting off to a good start on the PGA Tour so I wasn't under pressure later in the season, so I could turn my attentions to the Ryder Cup and the European Tour as and when that becomes the important part of the phase of the season.
"The plan has gone pretty perfectly, to be honest with you. Three really good solid weeks out here and I have built a platform now to be able to look at the rest of the year in a much more positive light and start earning points.
"Obviously I would love to play my way onto the team. But I wanted to be a player that if I'm playing well, Luke [Donald] has to consider and feel good about being part of this team."
