Rose celebrates after chipping in at the 18th to finish fourth at the Birkdale Open in 1998.

There was a cheque for �675 for winning a pro-am tournament on the eve of his first professional tournament, but not a penny of prize money found its way into his pocket in Rose's first 21 tournaments as a professional.

Last year, in his first full season, his statistics, like his bank account, made depressing reading.

By the time he returned to the Open for the first time as a professional at Carnoustie last year, Rose had failed to survive a single cut all season and, statistically, was the worst player on the European Tour.

The only list on which Rose rode high is sand saves - and few missed the irony in that.

Anyone who saw Rose's stunning assault on Birkdale's windswept links two summers ago - and they were there in their thousands - must be asking themselves why.

Even Rose himself admitted recently to not believing in fairytales anymore.

It was the everyday questions of why; the newspaper theorists and the countless media articles following every step of Justin's formative years that probably did the most damage.

I've felt my form coming back for a few weeks and I'm desperate to play at St Andrews.

Justin Rose

This season, as the media frenzy cooled, Rose's game picked up again. Only slightly, but significant nonetheless.

"I've felt my form coming back for a few weeks.

"Bad driving has been putting pressure on the rest of my game, but I've reached a different level now.

"I'm desperate to play in the Open at St Andrews," he said, knowing he faces the prospect of 36-hole qualifying next Sunday and Monday first.

It's another huge challenge for a player who grew up on a diet of success.

At the tender age of 14, he became the youngest player ever to win a regional qualifying round for The Open, breaking the course record at his own North Hampshire course in the process.

Two years later he was unveiled as the youngest-ever British Walker Cup team member. The 16-year-old Rose was one of only two players to win a point as an otherwise-experienced British team were severely duffed up by the Americans.

It was no surprise when he claimed the National Under 16 trophy, even less so when he added the Cowis Trophy - the Under 18 equivalent - to his mother's list of polishing duties.

The prestigious St Andrews Links Trophy and the McEvoy Trophy had his trophy cabinet bulging before the smallest - yet biggest - piece of silver of them all; the amateur medal at Birkdale.

His stunning display at The Open earned Rose the nickname Baby Spice, but he has been forced out of golfing nappies, while the spice has gone too.

In its place sits a new, very bitter flavour, and Rose is not enjoying the taste.

"It has been lonely on the course at times but I'm not going to panic," Rose said, philosophically after missing the cut at last year's Open.

Open champion Mark O'Meara and leading amateur Justin Rose at Birkdale

A drop down to the Challenge Tour helped sharpen Rose's game as well as his mind and he won his tour card at San Roque before clinching a fourth-place finish at the Diners Club Austrian Open, his best performance as a professional.

That hardly constitutes big time status, nor does a best-finish of 29th at the Madeira Island Open this year, but there are signs that Rose is coming out of his slump.

There are many theories behind the young star's demise; among them a claim that he turned pro too quickly to cash in on his Birkdale glory, though he insists he had already made his decision before the tournament started.

Burnout

Then there are national newspaper claims that Ken Rose, Justin's father and coach, had driven his son to burnout.

Claims that Rose junior is over-golfed have hurt a man who follows his son's every move, but he remains defiant.

"Long term, we still feel we have the game to be competitive on the European Tour," he said. It's a blinkered statement avoiding the prickly subject of criticism and with a "Royal We" thrown in like a compassionate arm of support around his son's shoulders.

But there is only one man who can truly help Justin Rose to rise above such a long and agonising test and that is Justin Rose himself.

It's easy to forget he is still growing - literally as well as metaphorically - and his swing has needed to adapt with his expanding frame.

At least the growing pains have produced broad shoulders. Boy, has he needed them.