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THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 18, 2008

Justin Rose

SOUTHPORT, ENGLAND

Q. Can you talk about your round, please?
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah. You know, I wanted to go out there today -- yesterday was a birdie-free round, and it was tough work out there obviously with how hard the golf course was playing. You need to feel like you need to steal one or two or three birdies just to smarten up the scorecard. I did that today, but unfortunately every time I made a birdie I seemed to back it up with a bogey. I didn't drive it in the fairway on the very next hole or I just seemed to hurt my momentum out there.
I birdied 12 to get back to level par for the round and felt comfortable, maybe hoping to sort of keep that momentum going and pick up one or two coming in and be right in the thick of it. Disappointing to bogey two of the last six holes. Yeah, it leaves a lot of work to do, I suppose, for the weekend. But certainly not out of it, that's for sure, especially with some windy conditions.

Q. What score do you think you need to shoot on Saturday to give yourself a chance on Sunday?
JUSTIN ROSE: I think anything under par tomorrow keeps you in it. You know, there obviously seemed to be quite a lot of guys on 2-over, so you've got to presume a few of those guys are going to play well. Obviously Greg Norman is playing great right now. Anything under par tomorrow gives you a great shot going into Sunday.

Q. Just a reaction to Greg and the fact that a 53-year-old is leading this tournament.
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, well, he's got the body of a 25-year-old and the head of a 53-year-old, so it's not a bad combination. But it's superb, I guess, just to find the determination to go out there and really believe that he can still do it, I suppose. That's the impressive thing. Every part of his game, I suppose, from the very little I've seen of it looked great. It looks like his short game is as sharp as ever and holing some nice putts, and he's always driven the ball well, so I expect that. But yeah, so far, so good for him.

Q. Did he have any impact on you in formulating your golf in your younger years?
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, he did. I remember going to watch him at Wentworth many times and the Match Play and the Volvo PGA, and obviously himself, Faldo, Seve, that generation. I seemed to have missed the Nicklaus and that sort of generation. When I was growing up it was more Faldo, Seve, Greg. Yeah, no doubt about it. He was always a very flamboyant player and was very exciting to watch.

Q. When you look at some of the names above you on the leaderboard, does that give you (indiscernible.)
JUSTIN ROSE: No, I haven't thought about it that way at all, but you've just got to know that most guys, tough weekend, no matter what the field is -- you've got a lot of guys falling back on the weekend. It's just tough to keep momentum, tough to keep the mindset up for all four days. Sometimes that gives you an opportunity to work your way up the leaderboard. But in terms of winning the golf tournament from here, you've got to know there's some quality guys up there and not everybody is going to struggle.
All I know is that makes my job out there -- I know what I've got to do. I've got to go out and play some great golf this weekend. Yeah, that's a challenge.

Q. (Inaudible.)
JUSTIN ROSE: I think the hard thing is I don't care what the weather is going to be tomorrow because it's going to be the same for everybody, do you know what I mean? Rather what you've got day one, day two, that can throw up a little bit of a lopsided field. Outside of the draw, I felt it was the toughest side of the draw, no doubt. Today turned out to be much nicer than actually it looked like going down the 1st and 2nd hole. I had the rain jackets back on, and I thought, ooh, another day like the first day. So I was very pleased.
Actually we got a bit of a break this afternoon. The course was playable. That's why I was disappointed not to finish off stronger.
For me, six back, I need the wind.

Q. Your knowledge of the course might help you over the weekend against some of the other players on the leaderboard who aren't familiar with the course?
JUSTIN ROSE: Not really. I think playing one tournament ten years ago doesn't give you a home-course advantage, that's for sure. I think if I get going, hopefully get a little bit of a crowd behind me, that will be the thing that will help me, but certainly golf-course-wise I don't feel like I have an advantage.

Q. (Question regarding Ian Poulter).
JUSTIN ROSE: Well, I think Ian has been playing good golf for a while without getting any results. It's just been a matter of time for him, I think, and I think he's found it frustrating because he's been playing well and not getting anything out of it. Ian is the kind of guy who always relishes being on the leaderboard, so I always expect him to do well. It's nice when you do have a good week for it to be a major.

Q. Would it be a dream scenario, you and him battling it out on Sunday?
JUSTIN ROSE: That would be. It would make it tougher for one of us to lose, no doubt about it. But it certainly would be a fun situation. Last time we went head-to-head, we had a good time.

End of FastScripts

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