The last time Justin Rose played at Gullane in the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open of 2015, he accelerated into contention with the roaring oomph of a drag racer.
By the end of the weekend, though, he had all the forward impetus of one of the vintage exhibits at the nearby Myreton Motor Museum.
“I started well, then fell off a cliff,” reflected Rose, who was sharing second place at the halfway stage three years ago but slithered down to 74th after misfiring and spluttering over the closing 36-holes.
“One of the blessings of my career is that I don’t tend to remember too much about my results. I let it wash over me and treat a week of golf as a fresh body of work; what you did the previous week or previous year doesn’t count for much. I’m coming back to Gullane with a fresh enthusiasm.”
Rose, who was speaking on a transatlantic conference call at a media day for July’s Scottish showpiece over the fine East Lothian links, had been the defending at Gullane in 2015 having triumphed at Royal Aberdeen the previous year.
That success, a first on a links course, remains a significant conquest on a glittering cv even if his preparation had hardly been peppered with encouraging omens. “I had won in the US the previous week but I felt like I left my head somewhere in the Atlantic,” he said.
“I remember playing in the pro-am and losing about ten balls and thinking, ‘what the heck has happened to my golf game?’. But I had an emergency session with my coach and got down to what I needed to do.
As the current world No 5, Rose is one of eight Europeans in the top 20 of the global pecking order. In the phoney war before a Ryder Cup battle, the posturings and muscle-flexings get more pronounced with each passing week as the heavy artillery continues to get manoeuvred into position.
With the emerging forces like Jon Rahm and the upwardly mobile Tommy Fleetwood making statements of intent on the global stage, and the experienced Paul Casey back in the Ryder Cup fray having re-joined the European Tour after a self-imposed exile, Rose is liking the way things are shaping up ahead of the tussle with the USA in Paris in September.
“Tommy has got one of the best temperaments on tour and I can only see him going from strength to strength,” said Rose of his fellow Englishman Fleetwood, who has broken into the world’s top 10 for the first time.
“He hits the ball impeccably and I find myself copying Tommy, any time I’m playing with him. I try to emulate the things he does. He will be a great addition to the Ryder Cup team.
“We have a team shaping up to be a very different animal to the last time. Tommy, Jon Rahm and Paul Casey change the dynamics of that team massively in terms of the natural pairings we can field. It’s a 12-man team but you’re only looking to find four pairings.
“Last time, we did the best with the pairings we could put out but anything else was a bit of Hail Mary. So for me the inclusion of those boys in the team is going to shore up so many pairings and give us more options.”
Rose was one of a number of players who could have assumed the role of world No 1with a victory as last week’s Players’ Championship.
He didn’t win, of course, but that lauded spot remains a sizeable goal. “With some great events coming up, getting to No 1 is a huge motivation,” he said.
One of those events will be the Scottish Open. Rose will be there and, while he was on the phone, it was only natural to ask him if he could convince his management company stablemate, Tiger Woods, to pitch up at Gullane.
‘I’m afraid I haven’t been pressing him on that issue,” said Rose with a chuckle. “But I think Tiger is definitely more open to changing his schedule now than he ever has been before.
“He’s trying to find his way back to being his best and he does need to explore other options. You do need to reacquaint yourself with links golf. I wouldn’t bet on him playing ... but it wouldn’t’ surprise me.”
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