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Justin Rose hopes to build on 2015 performance
Justin Rose’s score of 14-under last year normally would have been enough to win a green jacket. But it wasn’t good enough in 2015.
Rose lost by four strokes to Jordan Spieth – a performance the Englishman continued to rave about a year later.
“That level of performance obviously would have won many major championships, and essentially I was beaten by an all-time great performance,” Rose said Tuesday of Spieth’s record-tying 18-under. “I take a lot of confidence from that; that many other years that that level of performance is good enough to win. If you get beaten by a better guy on the week, you tip your cap. But I know that what I was able to do last year tells me I’ve got what it takes to win this tournament.”
Though he finished in a tie for second last year, Rose feels like he’s coming into Augusta National Golf Club under the radar this week. Rose, the 2013 U.S. Open champion, has made the cut in each of his 10 Masters appearances.
“I’ve been steady,” Rose said. “I haven’t really had any fireworks this year to sort of come in here with people having me at the front of their mind. I feel like all my backroom work has all been fantastic and my preparation has been coming along nicely. Under the radar, but certainly feeling good with my game.”
Despite the time the Masters was broadcast in England, Rose said he watched it “as much or more growing up than any other tournament.”
“The fact it came on late at night and you were able to stay up, bribe your parents, that was part of the attraction,” Rose said. “To back up a U.S. Open win with a Masters would be just incredible.”
Rose will begin his quest for a green jacket at 10:54 a.m. Thursday. He will play with Jamie Donaldson and Daniel Berger.
“I have plenty of knowledge of the golf course,” Rose said. “Plenty of respect for the golf course. People ask why I bother to come up prior to the tournament for a round or two and I tell them, ‘Why not, it’s Augusta.’ It never gets old.”