Why Justin Rose is more inspired this week will give you all the feels

Justin Rose carded an opening round of 7-under 65 at the British Masters at The Belfry on the DP World Tour hosted by Sir Nick Faldo.

Ben Smith

29 Jun 2023

Why Justin Rose is more inspired this week will give you all the feels

Justin Rose revealed he was thinking about his late father before teeing it up at the British Masters this week.

It has been 21 years since a young Rose claimed what was the second victory of his career at Woburn in this event.

Rose, now 42, edged out Ian Poulter in what he described as a great 'ding-dong' battle.

The Englishman was staying at the Postman's house all those years ago and Rose said he 'wasn't a very gracious guest' after pipping him.

It was all the more important given it was the one victory his father was able to witness and hug his son on the 18th green.

Ken Rose died in September 2002 after a long battle with cancer.

"It is still one of the most significant victories in my career," Rose said after his opening 65 at The Belfry on Thursday.

He added:

"More from an emotional point of view than anything. It was the one victory that my father was actually able to be there on the 18th green and witnessed himself in person, one of my only as a professional, and he was able to see that. It will forever be special from that point of view. Obviously there was a great back and forth between myself and Ian Poulter. We had a great duel, a ding-dong battle. He actually hosted me that week, so I wasn't very gracious as a guest. It was an amazing week for sure."

Rose's 65 contained as many as eight birdies, the only blemish coming at No. 8 when he tugged his tee shot left and overshot the green and failed to get up-and-down to save par.

His issues on the course have been well-documented. He's back to No. 31 in the OWGR and returned to the winner's circle on the PGA Tour earlier in the year with his victory at Pebble Beach.

It brought to an end a four-year winless drought.

Clubhouse Lead @JustinRose99 with a birdie to finish 7-under #BetfredBritishMasters pic.twitter.com/UkPBkbW0ON
— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) June 29, 2023

Of course Rose will be hoping he can keep up his form and automatically qualify for the Ryder Cup side this September.

GolfMagic have already taken a look at who we believe will be representing Europe and the United States.

Rose players are hitting form at the right time.

He said:

"The likes of Tyrrell [Hatton] and Tommy [Fleetwood]. And obviously we've got some superstars in the team as well. Viktor [Hovland] I think is playing unbelievable golf. We've got [Jon] Rahm and Rory [McIlroy] clearly leads the team."

The defending champion of the British Masters is Thorbjorn Olesen. Sir Nick Faldo is serving as tournament host.

Faldo, 65, spent the earlier part of the week telling the media to be grateful for Rory McIlroy, stood by his comments about LIV Golf and made this wisecrack about the Netflix documentary Full Swing.

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