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THE 145TH OPEN

July 16, 2016

Justin Rose

Troon, South Ayrshire, Scotland

Q. Three days in a row on the front nine. Do you feel a charge is on?
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, I was there. Obviously, I felt confident coming out today that I could put a good round together. I came out with a more aggressive mindset, hitting drivers off the tee on number 1, 2, and 3, just changing up the game plan a little bit. I really felt like I needed to shoot something in the mid 60s today to have a shot going into tomorrow. I had eight-foot birdie putts or less, on three of the first four holes that I couldn't convert, but then birdied 5, 6, and 7. So really through seven holes I could have been 6-under with a little luck.

I really felt like I played great golf today. Played great on the back nine, and just one hole ruined the day a bit. But I would say all week I've felt like I've played really well without much reward. So it's just been one of those weeks where I felt like there's been a little untimely mistake or certainly obviously yesterday's conditions were a little tricky to play in. Again, just go out tomorrow and try to post something and have an exciting finish to the tournament.

Q. Graeme McDowell said a 68's possible today. But do you feel it's available?
JUSTIN ROSE: Well, obviously if I had parred in, I would have shot 68. I felt like if that had been the case, I would have still come in and said, I left a few out there. So you've got to play great golf today to get it. Obviously to play the front nine in 4, 5-under is doable, but it's tough, and to hang on from there is, again, tough. But it's doable, for sure. I would say 68 would have been -- I think nobody's better than 3-under today to this point, so 68 would have been a great score. But like I said, I felt I had the opportunity to go lower than that today.

Q. The British challenge thus far, taking nothing away from Andrew Johnston, why do you think the British challenge thus far has been fairly muted in this championship? Is there any particular reason for it?
JUSTIN ROSE: No, I think Troon is an venue that the Americans, they seem to do well on. But no, there's nothing I can point to to explain it.

Q. It's characteristics of links golf or not just specific to these islands, are they?
JUSTIN ROSE: No, listen, most of the guys that played professional golf now have all the shots. Gone are the days that guys didn't travel and guys didn't know how to play in the wind. For example, guys who grow up in Texas grow up in a lot of wind. They can control their ball and flight it any which way they want. I think a lot of the Americans relish the challenge of links golf now.

So I don't see it as a particular advantage. Gone are your amateur days where you'd play in conditions like yesterday much more frequently. So the conditions we face, I would say I play them as infrequently as the Americans do. So I would say almost now 20 years into your career, the advantage of growing up on links golf has almost diminished.

Q. More of a level playing field?
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah. But there is no particular reason, no.

Q. Do you have a target for tomorrow?
JUSTIN ROSE: I don't know where I'll stack up. I think just go out and shoot the round of the week for me and just finish strong and just try and, yeah. The whole week I feel like I'm back to playing some of my best golf. It may not reflect it in the score. But since really THE PLAYERS Championship, where the back sort of went on me, since that point it's been a lot of hard work to get to here. This is the first week I've felt healthy. So that's the exciting thing for me. I'm playing well and looking forward to the rest of the summer.

But, yes, to enter tomorrow with some positive momentum.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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