The Open 2023: Justin Rose 確信して he has the know-how and （手先の）技術 to 陰謀（を企てる） his way around Hoylake

• e-mail

It was the Open that made Justin Rose as a young man. He’s also coming around to the idea that it might define the latter years of his career 同様に.

The thought has cropped up because we are talking about age and the 悪口を言う／悪態s of it. About what you lose, which Rose いつかs feels when he looks 支援する to that 17-year-old amateur who finished fourth at 王室の Birkdale in 1998.

‘I was just fearless that week,’ he tells Mail Sport. ‘And that’s normal when you’re young. Carefree. Naive. Almost blissfully ignorant really. Getting older changes that. You can almost know too much. Honestly, there have been times in the last 25 years I’ve 手配中の，お尋ね者 to peel 支援する the 層s to be a bit more like that 見解／翻訳／版 of myself.’

But there’s another 味方する to age and that’s why Rose (below) is excited. He’ll be 43 in a couple of weeks and that experience counts for something ― it happens to count for 二塁打 or more in one particular 環境, 特に in the 時代 of 抱擁する 運動ing.

Of course, we are discussing links ゴルフ. The thinker’s ゴルフ. The ゴルフ of quirky bounces and 勝利，勝つd and （手先の）技術 and guile and 多重の roads to the 旗. The ゴルフ that is so much more than 切り開く／タクシー／不正アクセス and gouge. The ゴルフ that brought Tom Watson within one good putt of winning the Open at the age of 59. The ゴルフ we will see when the 151st Open 選手権 begins at Hoylake on Thursday.

Justin Rose (pictured) believes he has the knowledge and experience to help him 征服する／打ち勝つ the 王室の Liverpool ゴルフ Club this week at the Open 選手権

Rose is looking to 勝利，勝つ only his second ever major after winning the US Open 支援する in 2013

There are also Ryder Cup points up for 得る，とらえるs this week, with the Englishma n (middle) having already won this season at the?AT&T Pebble Beach プロの／賛成の-Am

‘You know, I’ve been thinking about this a bit,’ he says. ‘I just think there’s elements to the Open that really 控訴 experience. I feel like it is the major that I have 転換d my mindset to.

‘The US Open and Masters are the ones that have given me the most 適切な時期. 明白に I won the US Open (in 2013), had good finishes there and also at Augusta (five 最高の，を越す-10s at the US Open, six at the Masters, 含むing 走者-up twice).

‘But for the next 10 years of my career I would say the Open is going to give me the most 適切な時期. You go to the older links ゴルフ courses, they 申し込む／申し出 me the most 適切な時期 game-wise. It’s not about brute 軍隊. At some point, you know those other major courses will become too long. But links ゴルフ can be about the accumulation of knowledge. So many guys have won the Open in their 40s ― Darren Clarke did it. So did Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els.’

There has been joy in Rose’s トン throughout 2023. His 勝利，勝つ at the AT&T Pebble Beach プロの／賛成の-Am in February, his 11th victory on the PGA 小旅行する, （機の）カム four years after his 10th, around the time he was last world No 1.

For a golfer who has won a major and an Olympic gold メダル, that was a torturous wait, 負担d with 疑問s and periods of sharp 拒絶する／低下する. At one point, he fell as low as 84 in the world.

Today, at 32nd in the standings and with five 最高の，を越す-10 finishes in his past 13 starts, he has seemingly left behind a mindset where he no longer believed he could 勝利，勝つ.

‘Most of the year I have felt very good about my game,’ he says, and his hope is for a 盛り上がり at Hoylake. The Open has now become the tournament he most wants to 勝利，勝つ.

‘The Masters gives you something special because you go 支援する ev ery 選び出す／独身 year to the same 発生地 and it is unique for that 年次の walk 負かす／撃墜する memory 小道／航路.

But the Open is the greatest 選手権.

‘For me it really would be a lovely 十分な circle story, to one day 勝利，勝つ the Open after everything that happened at Birkdale.’ Rose still enjoys going 支援する to that 位置／汚点／見つけ出す in his memories, when he won the silver メダル for best amateur by pitching in from the rough on the 72nd 穴を開ける.

Will Rose blossom again? 傷害s 妨害するd his season last year, but he's been in 飛行機で行くing form this season making five 最高の，を越す ten finishes

He turned プロの／賛成の the next day and 行方不明になるd the 削減（する） at each of his first 21 tournaments ― the highs and lows of this maddening sport have rarely seemed so vivid.

‘I can’t believe it’s been 25 years,’ he says. ‘In some ways, it feels like yesterday and in other ways it feels a lifetime ago. When I think of it, I always go to the support of the （人が）群がる for this unknown kid, and this carefree 態度 that I was able to harness.

‘ゴルフ probably did feel easier in some ways then and I’ve always looked 支援する to it when I have struggled. I’ve always thought, “Hey, how can I get 支援する to 存在 as の近くに to that 17-year-old kid as possible?”.’

They were thoughts that were たびたび（訪れる） during his 長引かせるd 下落する, which was 特に 堅い in 2021. ‘I played terrible ゴルフ at Augusta that year and finished seventh, but it was a hard time.

‘My mind can really spin when I struggle. I can’t just 受託する it, but you also realise that means you’re hungry. You’re still willing to do the work to 証明する you’re better than your 現在の 状況／情勢. When my 支援する is against the 塀で囲む, it brings out a fighting spirit in me to get through a 堅い time.’

He did, and this year’s results serve as a vindication of his 決定／判定勝ち（する） in 2021 to 拒絶する an 申し込む／申し出 of 上向きs of £30million from LIV. He did so because he still had ambitions in the majors.

On LIV, and the 欠如（する） of clarity that followed their 最近の 合併 with the PGA and DP World 小旅行するs, Rose says: ‘I am in the dark. The way the headlines （機の）カム out, it all looked like a 合併 was done and dusted but I think it is softer than that in reality.

‘To 簡単にする it, the goal is 統一. The question is how do we all get 支援する together 公正に／かなり and that is what they have to solve.’

The ありふれた perception is that Rory McIlroy was 不正に 燃やすd by the experience, having served as the PGA 小旅行する’s most trenchant 支持者 事前の to their U-turn. By McIlroy’s admission, it took too much attention away from his own ゴルフ.

Rose 認める that he was 'in the dark' about things going on with the PGA 小旅行する's 合併 with LIV ゴルフ?

He （人命などを）奪う，主張するd that Rory McIlroy (pictured) had 'probably learned a lot' from LIV's 分裂（する） away from the PGA 小旅行する

‘I think Rory has probably also learned a lot from this 過程,’ says Rose, his long-time Ryder Cup team-mate. ‘He is going to be a very astute 実業家 one day, and I think a part of him has probably enjoyed 存在 in the conversation rather than passive.

‘最終的に, he has played 広大な／多数の／重要な ゴルフ the last couple of years so don’t feel sorry for him at all!

‘He has done a good 職業 and has 代表するd his 見解（をとる）s and the players 井戸／弁護士席. It has made it, dare I say, entertaining on both 味方するs.’

It has. A political caper that made the 商売／仕事 of winning ゴルフ tournaments look simple by comparison. But the beauty of a major week is that good sport will always trump bad politics. And there’s no major week やめる like a major week on a links course.