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| | Monday, 3 June, 2002, 11:19 GMT 12:19 UK Rose bursts into top 50 Rose (right) pipped his friend Poulter at Woburn The fourth victory of a memorable season has lifted England's Justin Rose into the world's top 50 for the first time. Rose has risen to number 48 in the rankings after his one-shot British Masters triumph at Woburn, secured with a final round of 65. He had already won twice in South Africa - one a European Tour victory at the Dunhill Championship - and once in Japan this season. Sunday brought a first victory on home soil for the Hampshire-based 21-year-old, who came from behind to pip fellow Englishman Ian Poulter.
It elevated him to number seven in Europe, further underlining how he has translated the promise he showed as a 17-year-old amateur in finishing fourth in the 1998 Open. Following that heady achievement at Royal Birkdale, Rose turned professional but endured a nightmare run of 21 successive cuts. But his latest success has helped realise his immediate goal. "It is pinch-yourself stuff but I feel quite comfortable with it," Rose said after leaping 13 places on Europe's money-list. "But I need to keep working hard and re-evaluating my goals. I've said for a while that a top 50 place in the world has to be one. I'm going in the right direction now." Rose believes increased mental strength has allowed him to cut down on his error count over the past five months.
And he points out that for a 21-year-old, his results now bear out the fruits of his early labours. "Everybody matures at different ages," he added. "I am old in terms of experience. "At 14 I was winning the under-16s and at 16 winning the under-18s. I had experience beyond my years." Rose will have to wait until the British Open in July to test his new-found confidence against the very best in the world. By contrast Colin Montgomerie, 39 later this month, will next week launch his 11th attempt at winning the US Open, which starts at Bethpage on 13 June. The Scot, twice a US Open runner-up, will cross the Atlantic in confident mood after a memorable month. His fourth place at Woburn followed two second-place finishes at the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open and the Volvo PGA Championshp.
The seven-time Order of Merit winner is now second in the European rankings behind South Africa's Retief Goosen, the defending US Open champion. Despite enjoying success with his new 'belly' putting style, Montgomerie believes his old virtue of hitting fairways has revitalised his hopes of landing an elusive first Major. "The US Open greens will be quick, unlike the ones at Woburn, so you have to change to suit the pace," he said. "Some weeks the new putting style works and some it doesn't. The main thing is that I'm hitting fairways and greens again. "My career has never been based on the amount of putts I holed. My success has come from the amount of fairways I hit." | |
See also:  05 May 02 | Golf 06 Mar 02 | Golf 10 Feb 02 | Golf 20 Jan 02 | Golf 20 Jan 02 | Golf Top Golf stories now: Links to more Golf stories are at the foot of the page. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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