AUGUSTA, Georgia – English golfer Justin Rose maintains his competitive fire heading into the weekend at Augusta National, though he faces a steep climb to catch defending Masters champion Rory McIlroy.
The 45-year-old Rose, who suffered a playoff loss to McIlroy at last year’s tournament, carded a three-under-par 69 during Friday’s second round, positioning him in a tie for fourth place at six-under overall – trailing the Northern Irishman by six strokes.
Despite being a three-time Masters runner-up, Rose insists his motivation remains as strong as ever.
“No, I feel the same, which is good,” Rose explained. “I think if I can feel the same, that means I’m doing a lot of other good things because I’m not feeling older and stuff like that. I feel the same. I feel in good form. I feel in good spirits.”
The 2013 U.S. Open winner acknowledged that while his desire to capture the Green Jacket burns bright, he’s careful not to force things on the course.
“I don’t really need to try any harder; know what I mean? I think trying harder is — I just think the experience in that is probably trying harder ain’t going to help me,” Rose said. “So that’s probably the dance I’m doing with myself.”
Rose will require a significant weekend collapse from McIlroy to have a realistic shot at his first Masters victory.
Friday’s round presented numerous challenges for the veteran golfer. He stumbled early with a bogey following a wayward drive, then encountered serious trouble at the fifth hole when his ball came to rest beneath a bush, threatening to completely derail his round before he managed to salvage par.
Rose’s fortunes changed dramatically around the turn. After securing his first birdie at the seventh hole, he strung together three straight birdies, including one at the par-four 11th that briefly put him atop the leaderboard. Although he dropped a shot at the dangerous 12th hole, he bounced back with a four-foot birdie putt at the par-five 15th.
“I felt like the round could have gone either way,” Rose reflected.
“I’m under a bush on No. 5, already one-over for the round. I felt like momentum was definitely going the wrong way at that point in my round, so I think I did a good job of digging in at that point and rebuilding the round, so I give myself a lot of credit for finding that momentum and finding that good play.”
