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WGC HSBC CHAMPIONSOctober 30, 2013Justin RoseSHANGHAI, CHINA STEVE TODD: Thanks for joining us. Obviously a great year for you with the U.S. Open victory. What would it mean to you to come here and win a WGC, as well? JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, I think this would cap off a great year. I feel like winning a major is the step up that I've been looking for for a while. I feel like my career has been on a nice upward trend since 2010. I seem to keep winning bigger and bigger tournaments: Jack's tournament, Tiger's tournament, and then the WGC in the States, and next place to go is win a major. A sequence has happened quite quickly from that sense, but to now continue to win big events is obviously a huge goal, and I think to cap off a great year with a strong finish, there's a lot for me to play for these next few weeks. I feel nice and, not necessarily rested, but I feel motivated to have a strong finish to the year. STEVE TODD: You touched on it there about the next couple of weeks, the new Final Series on The European Tour and you're sitting third in The Race to Dubai at the moment, big prize money this week. So in terms of that, there's a lot to play for, as well. Give us your thoughts on The Final Series. JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, for sure. Obviously I'm excited about the opportunity to win my second Race to Dubai. It wasn't The Race to Dubai in my era; it was obviously the Order of Merit. But to get my name on that trophy again would be a huge honour with so many great names that have done that. Obviously Henrik is chasing down history this year in terms of winning both, I guess bonus titles, the FedExCup and The Race to Dubai. So I know the money list has been achieved but not what he's going for, both trophies. He's a good friend of mine, and I'll certainly be pleased for him if he's the guy to do it but obviously I want to make it as tough as I can for him. Obviously I have to get past Graeme McDowell, too. I think it's going to take some great golf from me. But obviously yeah, this week is a huge opportunity to make big inroads to that, as you say, big prize money. This is a key week on both tours. It's my first event on the 2014 PGA TOUR schedule with FedExCup points now, too; a lot to play for this week. And heading into Turkey next week, good feelings, I know not necessarily defending champion, but we went to Turkey last year, and I managed to win the match‑play style event. So hopefully Turkey will be a nice place for me to revisit, and again just strong memories of Dubai where I finished really strong and Rory birdied the last five to beat me. But again, I feel like I've got good vibes going into the final three events. Q. First about The Race to Dubai, is there any special reason why you're missing the tournament last week? And to this new European Tour Final Series, what's your take and how do you feel about this new approach? JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, sure, so very good reason. Just very hard for me to be away from home for a month with two young children, four and two.  Obviously that's my drive is trying to create balance in my career. That's pretty much as straightforward as it gets. I feel very hard to justify a month away from home. And secondly, I feel like this is‑‑ hopefully the Tour and the event [] to gather momentum into Dubai. The field sizes get smaller, so you feel like each week, there's a big week for somebody. The guy who had Rory, for example, this week, is 62 I think and he needs to play well this week to make sure that he gets to Dubai. So somebody always has a big week and that's what makes it exciting is there's always a story line. Q. There's a period of time that you went to the to a down point in Korea and then you bounced back very quickly. Can you share with us, what did you do to help yourself get out of the down point? And secondly, how has your family helped you in your career, and thirdly, since you won the U.S. Open this year with the participation now in the European Tour, as well as the PGA TOUR, is that what you're going to be planning to have more focus on both tours? JUSTIN ROSE: So, yeah, I think my career has had a couple of downturns. Obviously the first one happened pretty quickly, missing my first 21 cuts was not exactly a downturn; it was just a down from the start. But I guess I got through that just by focusing on‑‑ I always felt like I tried to spin everything in a positive manner; if I missed the cut by five one week and I missed the cut by two the next week I would try and look at it as a positive, not another missed cut. So I tried to just sort of gain momentum from very small victories the way I would see the game. And then again, I sort of got my career up and running in 2002. And then probably sort of petered out a little bit through 2004, 2005, 2006, and then got it going again in 2007. But really the last four or five years, I feel like I've put in a very good team of people around me which has helped. I've got a great coaching staff, and I think I've matured and become CEO of my business. And I think that's always been important for me is just putting together a strong team to help me improve every single week and every single year. Since I've had children, I've probably played my best golf. And who knows, that's probably happened to quite a lot of guys over the course of history. Probably puts things in a little bit more perspective. I remember when I won the 2010 AT&T National, I think I had a two o'clock tee time and I would be up at seven or eight in the morning with the kids. I remember playing with my little boy for about three or four hours out in the garden of the hotel and it was just a great distraction. Then got to the golf course and just switched on into golf course and played and won. I think they are a great balance and I don't think it makes the good days any better, but it definitely makes the bad days much better when you come home and you've had a bad round and you see kids‑‑ suddenly golf disappears from your mind. So you don't sit in the hotel room or sit at home for hours going through your bad round. You forget it much quicker, which I think is a help. And then, you know, playing both tours, obviously the majors and the World Golf Championships are a key to doing that and a key to doing that well. If you want to perform well in the majors you have to perform well in the World Golf Championships. That's my goal is to try to get myself focused and prepared for the Majors. I think having won a major, it makes you hungry to win more, and I think every decision I need to make now with my career is based upon how I can go about winning a major championship. And if you do that, if you play good golf in these tournaments, you're going to do fine on both tours. Q. How much does it mean to you to be a winner around the world; to be a well‑rounded player? JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, I think that's important. I've always tried to see myself as a global player, and I think I've managed to do in my career. I've won most places now, all continents I think, so I'm proud of that fact. I think with somewhere like China being such a growing market, it would be great to win over here for me and that's probably the next goal. Great opportunity for that this week. But yeah, I do; I wouldn't say I love travelling every week, but I enjoy travelling. I've been a pro 15 years now but I still like to get to new places and see parts of the world and experience the different traditions and what‑have‑you. And unfortunately sometimes with the golf tournaments, you're a little bit removed from the real action and the real city. So it was a nice opportunity yesterday to go into Shanghai and do the photo call with HSBC and to be down town and really get a true sense of Shanghai itself. That was the first time I've been able do that. So getting opportunities like that, I still really enjoy. Q. In the photo call yesterday you were wearing the Beijing opera costume; how do you feel about that? JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, I feel like it would be pretty difficult to make a golf swing in it, but it was obviously‑‑ it was great. Was it the Lord of Victory? Yeah, he was pretty impressive, the whole face paint, big, long mustache. I didn't look to my right but I can't imagine we were very good with following the orchestra very well. But we gave it our best shot. It was a fun opportunity to get involved in some of the culture. Q. Seeing the success Scotty has had since he cut his schedule, obviously he doesn't have Ryder Cup considerations to worry about; is that something you'd like to do in an ideal world, or do you think you can play your best golf playing as many tournaments as you do? JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, it's a great question. He's definitely a good case study in the sense that it seems to have really helped his game. I know every decision that Adam Scott make is based around what is going to help him leave a legacy in the game and win more major championships. He's pretty, I would say ruthless, with that decision‑making process; and it's paid for for him, he's No.2 in the world, major championship winner now. Yeah, like you say, he doesn't have necessarily the same obligations that some of us might have, but what I do feel is that even, for example, every seven years, [] I believe they get a sabbatical where they get to take a year off, they get to learn, explore, better themselves and improve just by going out and seeing the world. So not to be that extreme, but I think every four, five, seven years, it might be a good idea for a player to trim his schedule back, just to give yourself more years on the back end, not because you want to play less golf but you want to have a more longer, more successful career. I don't know if Phil Mickelson might be in that situation right now where he's thinking he's going to be very selective and he's going to be selective for a reason. He still feels he can play great golf and might give him a couple extra years where he can win Majors into his late 40s. That's probably a couple years down the road for me. I'm 33 and still feel like I'm in my prime where I can travel quite a bit; but also a young family, this is the time where you miss out the most. They grow up so quickly that being away 35 weeks or whatever, it could be, is obviously difficult. But it's something that's in the back of my mind and it's something I'm trying to find the right balance to. To be honest, that's the biggest challenge, if you're a young, single guy playing as many tournaments as you can and seeing the world, there's nothing better. But when you have some of the other additions to your life, it becomes much more of a melting pot and it's pretty tough to balance sometimes. Q. Who do you think has the better schedule, Scotty or Steve Stricker? JUSTIN ROSE: For me, obviously Adam plays an international schedule. Steve just sticks to home and they both have gone down right to do that. They both have gone to the top of the game. Obviously Steve is at the point now where he truly is more concerned with family time, but both are still playing phenomenal golf. I think that they have both found what works for them, so there is no better schedule. It's definitely a personalised schedule. And I guess they both hit on it. Q. What do you see as the future of China golf? And what I mean by that, we all look sometimes at the world's best coming here and playing. What is the future with the younger kids, where do they go? How do they get there? JUSTIN ROSE: Well, I think obviously when you see Tianlang Guan at the Masters, that's pretty eye‑opening to see that. The talent coming up through the ranks; there are always great phenoms that break the mold. I've seen this morning young juniors being exposed to us and being exposed to this type of an event, and I think that that starts to plant the seed of the dream of being a tour player and being able to play in these great championships, so. That's the first bit is these events being down here is going to open their eyes to a career. That's the most important thing. And then I'm sure the facilities down here, places like this, I think phenomenal venues. To be honest I'm not 100 per cent sure what the kids have access to on a wider scale. I know it's a lot more driving range‑based and not as much land necessarily, so I don't know quite what the restrictions and limitations are. But for me, if the juniors can get themselves to a good level where‑‑ I always think the U.S. universities is a great place to then go and round out your education and gain some experience before making the leap into professional golf. I think that might have been good for me 15 years ago. Like any sport, you need to get a big grass roots base, and I think China is getting there with that. But this sport needs to be accessible, obviously and that's a challenge. To be honest I'm not 100 per cent versed on where we are with that. Q. Did you have any college offers? JUSTIN ROSE: No, I didn't have any college offers actually. It's not something I really pursued and looked into. I kind of made my mind up that I wanted to being a pro and in my naïve thinking, I thought the best way to learn about professional golf was to be a pro, and it's probably not a bad rationale. But now you look at guys like Jordan Spieth and what‑have‑you that comes out, he's pretty young; but guys who maybe mature. The way I see the game now, it doesn't matter where you're playing, as long as you're improving. I think that if you can improve in a slightly safer environment than a cutthroat professional tour when you're 18, 19, 20, that can be good for you in the long run. Q. How have things changed after your first major win? And can you tell the difference playing such a big event as a major championship compared to when you were not a major championship? JUSTIN ROSE: Life changes for sure. I think it changes for a few months. It changes; you get very busy the week or couple of months right after winning it. But then to be honest with you, you settle back down into feeling pretty normal. I feel that for the first two months after winning, you're talking about Merion, talking about the U.S.Open; you're in the past, you're always talking about what happened last week, a month ago, two months ago. It's very difficult to look to the future and look to the next event. So I think there's an adjustment period, but right now, I feel like it's behind me and I feel like I can focus on the rest of the season, but I still find myself smiling occasionally when I just remember that I'm a U.S. Open Champion. But for me, the win is going to be more important at the end of my career; to be able to look back on my career when I'm tired and say, I won a major. Hopefully I'll be able to win more but if I don't, at least I'll know that I've done it, so it gives me peace of mind. To come to a tournament like this, where there's 40 of the Top‑50 players in the world, if I can find myself in contention on Sunday, I know that I've been there before and I know that I've beaten all these players before and I know that I can do it again, so it gives you confidence. STEVE TODD: Justin, thanks for joining us and good luck this week. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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