Justin Rose fell foul of the draw at Royal Liverpool last year and struggled manfully in the worst of the weather conditions during his first two rounds and though he was concerned that the same thing might happen to him again when this year’s order of play was issued, it could be that his luck has turned.
Rose will tee off with Rickie Fowler and Sir Nick Faldo at 2.45pm on Thursday and 9.44am on Friday and after playing practice rounds on Monday and Tuesday of last week before moving on to the Scottish Open at Gullane, where he did not make an impression on the leaderboard but says he reacquainted himself with a few old skills, he is aware as anyone of the capricious nature of links conditions.
“I’d say the last five years I’ve been on the wrong side of things, so we’ll see,” he said. “You just hope over the course of a career that that evens itself out.
“The draw is a funny thing, especially at an Open Championship. It can make things lopsided, especially on courses [like this one] where you’ve got out and back in. If the wind switches at a certain time you can play a course into the wind all day versus the guys who played it downwind the whole day.”
Rose has also been working on his putting specific to the challenge that St Andrews throws up with its huge double greens, seven of them, and only two par threes, and considers that anything within 30 feet has to be considered makeable.
“Most of the putts are relatively straight, too,” he added. “So that’s what I’ve been working on practising, 20, 30 feet, not much break, and a lot of that is just obviously putting a good stroke on it. The lag putting would be sort of 50, 60 feet because you’re going to have quite a few of those, too.”
Rose, the world No8, goes into the tournament as the Englishman most likely to succeed and though his Open record is scratchy, with the tied fourth achieved as an amateur in 1998 still his best finish from 13 attempts, the challenges presented are not a cause for undue concern.
“To be honest, I’ve always played the Old Course pretty well. I won the St Andrews Links Trophy around here, which is a very prestigious amateur tournament. I’ve done well in the Dunhill Links, and the Open Championship,” he said.
“Yeah, I think I missed the cut here [in 2010], maybe on the number, but again I had the wrong side of the draw. I don’t feel like there’s anything I don’t know about the golf course or anything I need to work out. I think I play it pretty well.
“This course definitely knows how to hold its own and still show its teeth. Down the stretch if the wind is blowing from the east, which I think is where it’s blowing from right now and where it’s forecast to blow, you’re going to have to play well. It’s going to be testing.”
