Justin Rose hoping for Open payback on Rory McIlroy as double runner up admits conflicting Masters emotions

Daily Record

5 days ago

Rose was second as McIlroy finally completed his golf Grand Slam at Augusta earlier this year and finished second in last year's Open
Justin Rose was one of very few on the planet who felt pain and agony when Rory McIlroy fulfilled his dream.
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Now, in the Northern Irish hero's backyard, the English star hopes it's payback time.
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The outpouring of joy around golf when McIlroy won the Masters three months ago to complete a career Grand Slam was monumental.
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But for Rose, as happy as he was in one way for his mate, it was Major heartbreak again.
The play-off loss came hard on the heels of a runner-up finish to Xander Schauffele at The Open 12 months ago and it pained.
At the age of 44, he knows time and opportunities to add to his 2013 US Open success are running out.
This 153rd Championship offers the next crack and, once again, the emotional pull around the place is for McIlroy on his home patch.
McIlroy himself says that, if he doesn't get it done, he hopes Rose does and the experienced campaigner is ready for it.
He said: 'Listen, Rory is obviously a local hero around here and rightly so. He has been probably since he shot 61 here as a kid.
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"The legend around him in these parts has been growing for a long, long time. Obviously he's going to be incredibly well supported this week.
'I feel like the pressure is off him almost from that point of view this time around as it was to 2019 maybe even, the fact he's got nothing really more to prove.
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'This would just be like cherries on top of everything. I feel like probably he's in a good mindset.
'I've had a bit of a come down off the back of the Masters. I feel like I'm coming back around to having more energy and focus again. I can see maybe the same for him too. It's probably coming at a good time.
'Obviously when Rory was there over his three-footer to win and the tap-in, I was definitely: Oh, man, I've kind of been here before watching the same story, obviously being in a playoff against Sergio [Garcia], so there was definitely a little bit of deja vu to that moment, I suppose.
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'I felt like I played great on Sunday. I chased as hard as I could, left it all out there, but when you see all the outpouring from Rory, you understand how big the moment is and you obviously wish that for yourself, obviously.
'It wasn't lost on me what a huge achievement that was for the game of golf, obviously someone achieving the career Grand Slam.
'I was able to still be happy for Rory in that moment and it had been a long time coming for him. It was always going to be a matter of time. It's easy for us to say that, but when you're the player, you want to kind of get that done and you want to get over the line.
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'But, obviously, you've got to look inward and understand: Is there anything I could have done better in the moment?
'I think being a part of that story has made people very excited and the feedback of that has been positive. I'm ready to move on for sure because second is second place, isn't it?
"It's a tough loss. But at the same time, it's still more evidence that when I get things right, I'm still competitive and can still bring it.
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'I've got to make sure those moments like this week and going forward I can try to be as focused as I can on the moment now.
"On the putting green since I've been playing the game since probably aged eight, I've been dreaming about winning The Open of course.'
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Scottie Scheffler's comments this week about golf not being all consuming struck a chord with Rose at this stage of his life and so did Novak Djokovic's post-Wimbledon words.
He said: 'Obviously, later in your career, you're never quite sure how many chances are going to be left and when you do come close, clearly it's like, ahh. Sometimes it hurts a little bit more and that's obviously what Novak is saying as well.
'He's still probably believing that he can find angles and ways to maybe get that one percent in a certain part of his game that might make a difference and that's kind of what I believe in terms of what I'm trying to do.
'I think you kind of want to make the most of these near misses at this stage of your career. If I look back at Troon, I think I played as good as anybody for the whole entire week.
'I got beaten by Xander who played an amazing round of golf and we were kind of toe-to-toe right through the round until he had a golden half an hour where he stretched away.
'When you step up as a competitor, you're like: I had everything available to me to win the tournament. That does kind of keep you believing and gives me a lot of hope coming into this week and future Opens, as well.'