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BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

May 24, 2017

Justin Rose

Surrey, England

BRIONY CARLYON: JUSTIN, welcome back to Wentworth. It's great to have you here. It's a tournament you've spent your life growing up with, really.

Can you tell us your thoughts on the course changes?

JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, obviously yeah, it's a very special week for me always, and it's nice to be back. I had to miss it last year through injury and what-have-you. So it's really good to be back, and even better to be back with the sun shining. It makes definitely a big difference.

This morning's Pro-Am was a lot of fun. Crowds were huge out there which, again, it gives the tournament a lot of energy, and then I think there's a lot of goodwill -- will not goodwill, but sort of positive vibes about the course and the venue this year.

I think the changes have been well received. I think that certain areas of the golf course have been softened and I think have probably been made a little bit more fair. Certainly more fair for the membership that have to play 51 other weeks of the year, and I think that's probably an important part of it. And the greens are as good a set of greens as I've seen for a newly-laid surface. They really are rolling well, and they are receiving a shot really well.

They are going to be firm, I'm pretty sure because of the weather that we have in the forecast, but the course is I'm sure right where they want it.

BRIONY CARLYON: It's your first time back to the U.K. to play since winning the Gold Medal. It's a special tournament, as well. There's a lot happening this week for The European Tour. Can I have your thoughts on week ahead?

JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, absolutely. Obviously I won the medal for Team GB, and the whole British public really does get behind Team GB. It's going to be nice to play here for the first time since then.

Yeah, obviously the European Tour, it's exciting times. It's the first Rolex Series Event, and it's a series of eight tournaments that are going to be good for the Tour. It's nice to kick it off this week at Wentworth.

Q. You had a runner-up finish here before the re-design and you had a runner-up finish after the re-design. The course as it is now, do you think it's closer to how it was seven, eight years ago?
JUSTIN ROSE: No, I still think it's closer to how they re-designed it. It's still a -- yeah, it's just, I would say, they have now sort of got the right -- it's very easy when you re-design a golf course and everything's -- you can see the intent of how all the slopes were meant to work and the depth of the bunker and the dramatic look of the changes. I mean, it looked fantastic visually.

So I would imagine before a ball was hit, the changes look fantastic. But then you learn to play a golf course, and you realise it's actually a bit more penal than we thought in certain areas. I think very rarely do people change a golf course and underdo it. They tend to overcook it. I think we've just kind of worked our way back to a happy medium.

Q. Speaking of the Olympics, you're obviously an incredibly patriotic person and see yourself ambassador for British golf; is this more of a sense of obligation or a tournament you enjoy?
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, it's a tournament I really enjoy. It's a tournament that it's kind of a full-circle kind of moment for me if I was to win here. Because there's often a lot of kids behind the 18th green -- or now the way they have framed it, it's more up the hill, you know, looking for golf balls and gloves, and. I was one of those kids, however long ago, a long time ago, 25 years ago.

So I kind of -- it takes me back and it sort of makes me realise how far I've come, as well, to sort of turn up at this tournament and be a legitimate kind of contender for it.

So yeah, it's always a reminder of where I've come from, really, this tournament for me.

Q. I know you said to Chris Wood after last year, last year he won, that it was a bucket list win. Would this be something for you that would be a glaring hole in the C.V. if you weren't to win it one day?
JUSTIN ROSE: Well, yeah, if you want to look at it like that. But I still look at the opportunity in front of me. I'm not worried about that side of viewing it that way yet. But yeah, this is a top six or seven tournament in the world for me including the major championships. That's the way I regard it and that's the way I -- how happy I'd be if I was to win it.

Q. Obviously played at THE PLAYERS, was your first event back since the Masters. The final round obviously wasn't what you were looking for, but how is the game in general and the back for that matter?
JUSTIN ROSE: It's good. THE PLAYERS Championship, it's an interesting venue. I wasn't alone in shooting a high score on Sunday. A lot of top-class players did the same thing. It's the kind of course that tempts you into those sorts of scores and mistakes, really. Especially when you're middle of the pack and you're trying to make something happen, and you get on the wrong side of things.

Without reading too much into it, I actually did really well to make the cut at Sawgrass. Wasn't feeling great about my game and rightly so, to be honest. I sort of down-tooled a little bit for a couple of weeks after the Masters; and almost intentionally to really rest up and recover, and then turn my attentions to the summer, because it's a big summer of golf ahead and you're going to need a lot of energy to get through it.

For me it was sacrificing a little bit of form for a few weeks, not necessarily a bad thing. And I see this next block of golf as really building things back up towards the U.S. Open and then it's nonstop really from now right through the FedExCup and on.

Q. As you said, Jason Day shot 80 on the last round as well and obviously was in a playoff last week. Chances of you doing the same?
JUSTIN ROSE: High. I think; I hope. It always takes one putt, one swing, one round, just to get a little bit of momentum going, and then you're back; you're up and running. I think that's one thing I've learned in my career is that you're never far away from playing well.

It can feel opposite at times. You know, you can feel, when you aren't playing well, good golf feels so far away, but I know that it isn't. It's always just around the corner.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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