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WGC HSBC CHAMPIONS

October 27, 2017

Justin Rose

Shanghai, China

Q. A great but let's talk about the bogey at the last, or don't you want to talk about it?
JUSTIN ROSE: Listen, it's part of the 18 holes. Disappointing way to finish. Felt like I was running out of steam a little bit coming in. But as you said, I think I got lucky with my tee shot, really, so probably deserved six off the tee, but obviously it is what it is.

Played well again. Kept some momentum going. First tournament in a month or so, so to back up a good start with another good round is good, and now I feel like I'm into the weekend which is where you want to be.

Dustin obviously looks like he's finishing strong now but staying in touch.

Q. We know how much it is to drive it well here; it's key. You seem to be hitting it quite long. Is that the old faithful or do you have something new in there?
JUSTIN ROSE: Well, something new, FedExCup Playoffs, about two months ago, I put something new, a new shaft, the M1 in play, which has been good for me all year long. But yeah, I think I'm launching it really good, high, not much spin, so I'm carrying the ball a long way. On these wet fairways, it's working out well.

Q. We have some wind getting up and we think it's going to be like that the next couple days. We came to a golf course here in Shanghai that was quite wet and damp and it's drying out, which means these greens, are starting to roll quite well.
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, they could do with drying out actually. The greens will probably get better over the weekend but the scoring will go higher because of the wind; especially in the greens firm up, you have to play some proper golf.

You saw today, I think the scoring, there are some good scores. There are great players here in this field but you saw the mean average I think went up scoring-wise and that will probably continue to happen on the weekend.

Q. Great day overall, not quite the finish you wanted to get. We noticed you grabbing your left arm a little on the last hole. Anything to that?
JUSTIN ROSE: I've been grabbing it all week. I'm struggling a bit with my left shoulder. Struggled through THE TOUR Championship. Nothing major. Just a tiny bit of sort of tendonitis stuff, but it is what it is. But it's fine. It's not impeding my golf. It's probably a reaction to a bad shot; blame something.

Q. Conditions seemed to be harder today. Can you talk about your round, still keeping it to 5-under?
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, I was pleased with that. Backed up a solid start and continued some momentum today. It was definitely tougher out there today. To post a good score I'm very, very happy with. It was certainly trickier with the iron play to judge the wind and to get the ball close to the hole. So all in all, great couple first days. Put myself in contention for the weekend and we're in a good spot going forward now.

Q. Tell me about being in the last couple groups going into the weekend. Does your mind-set change? Do you need to attack more, do you think, over the weekend?
JUSTIN ROSE: It depends who is doing what. Dustin looks like he's playing pretty well. Obviously I think to win these type of golf tournaments, you need to play well for 72 holes. There's no protecting these days. You have to keep the pedal down.

Q. Not the way you wanted to finish, but pleased with the round?
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, I'm pleased with the round. I would have taken it at the start of the day. It was a bit breezier today. It wasn't quite as easy today. Yesterday was a given if you played well, you knew you were going to shoot a good score. Not so much today.

Only real blip came at the last. Just disappointing. Didn't quite commit. That's an awkward tee shot on 18 and just didn't commit down the right side enough and obviously pulled it to the left side and ran out of room real quick there. All in all, a good day's work.

Q. What is that 4-under worth compared to the conditions from yesterday?
JUSTIN ROSE: I think it's two shots harder today, the golf course. I think you can see that with the mean average. Obviously Dustin is playing well. He's shooting a good score. But for the most part, it's probably higher today.

Q. Any tactics change for the next couple days?
JUSTIN ROSE: No, I'm pretty happy. We have a good game plan on this golf course. Fooch has got a great book he's assembled over the last few years being here. The pin placements change every day, and you have a different strategy to every pin on the golf course. So there will be places to attack tomorrow and there will be places to defend, but we'll have a good strategy and try and pick our points to be aggressive.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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