Justin Rose targets 'dream' Open victory at Royal Birkdale
By Mathieu Wood
Last Updated: 18/07/17 4:42pm
Justin Rose admits winning The Open would be a "dream" and would be all the more significant because it is taking place at Royal Birkdale.
Rose came to prominence as a 17-year-old amateur at The Open in 1998, when he finished fourth and won the silver medal.
Fast forward 19 years and the Englishman, who won his first major in 2013 at the US Open at Merion, is targeting a second major win and creating more special memories
"It's the one tournament that I've dreamed about since I was a young boy, and I think especially at Royal Birkdale," Rose said.
"You take an Open Championship anywhere, you take a major championship anywhere, but if they happen to line up a special venue...
"I feel fortunate that I was able to win at Merion because that club has a little something extra about it, and obviously for me, here, to do it at Royal Birkdale, would be obviously a full-circle moment, based upon what I did in 1998."
Rose, who is the world No 12, believes he has unfinished business with The Open. The 36-year-old hasn't achieved a better finish since his 1998 performance despite making 10 cuts in his 15 attempts.
The Ryder Cup star doesn't feel under pressure to win a 'home' major but accepts that he is in the phase of his career where he is the best equipped to lift the Claret Jug.
"It surprises me after all these years that is still the best finish," said Rose. "I don't want to say that if I don't win this it's going to be a huge sort of hole in my career, but it was the one tournament that even before I finished fourth here as an amateur, I got to final qualifying at the age of 14 and created a bit of a story then.
"It's definitely been a championship that I've had great moments in. And to win it would kind of close the book in a way on my Open Championship story.
"There's no rush, but certainly, I'm into the do-it-now phase of my career."
Sergio Garcia narrowly pipped Rose at this year's Masters at Augusta, in thrilling fashion, and Rose admits to having suffered a dip in form in the aftermath but believes his good performance at the Irish Open, earlier this month, is a sign that his form is heading in the right direction.
"Hopefully a couple of weeks ago in Ireland was the start of things turning around," said Rose. "There were a lot of aspects of my game that I was really, really pleased about.
"And some aspects that were poor and needed a lot of work, which I've been doing in this last week. If things go according to plan, the good will stay good and what was not great will improve, and it should lead to a good tournament."
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