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November 14, 2013
DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Q. Your thoughts on holing that lovely putt for par at the last.
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, I mean, finishing 3‑putt, 3‑putt, certainly wouldn't have been making dinner taste very nice. But it was a funny day, just really miss‑hit a lot of shots today of the hit a lot of greens.
My miss‑hits weren't really getting me in trouble but I just wasn't firing on all cylinders today. Thought I did really well to get it to 3‑under par with a few holes to play, and overall, pretty satisfied with that score; and that result from a day where just didn't really feel like I had a go and felt like a long, hard day today.
Hopefully this one is out of the way now and can relax into the tournament a little bit but today was a bit of a fight. I have to say, nothing felt that good out there.
Q. How much are you paying attention to what's going on around you, particularly when you're playing alongside the man who leads The Race to Dubai.
JUSTIN ROSE: You obviously ignore when Henrik is playing like he is, but there's a long way to go. 72 holes, I think I know that‑‑ I know that from last week, didn't get off to a particularly strong start last week, but at one point in the final round got myself tied for the lead.
So four‑round tournaments, patience is a big part of it. So at no point today was I ever worried about that or worried about where Henrik was. Just got to trust the fact that I'll get hot myself.
He played really nicely today and obviously disappointed I'm sure for him to finish like that on the last. Maybe just a lapse of concentration. It was a long day out there. I felt like we played pretty slowly, too.
All in all, for me, it's a decent start. All you can do on a day like today is lose it. I would say with the position I'm in, I can build on it from there.
Q. Fair to say that was a bit of a grind today?
JUSTIN ROSE: I think it was a grind, yeah. I actually hit a lot of greens. I probably had a bundle of putts today. Put my putting under a lot of today. My speed wasn't good at all, I had a lot of three‑ to six‑foot putts for par, after birdie putts.
So put a lot of pressure on my putter and eventually I guess 17 caught up with me, left myself a slippery 5‑footer there down the hill. But nice to hole one on the last to be honest. That felt like I just got something out of the day at least. I didn't play particularly well today.
But my miss‑hits I guess were going in the right direction at least. I hit a lot of greens but not particularly close to the hole. This is the kind of golf course, like I said, it's a second‑shot golf course. If you hit your irons well, you create a lot of birdie opportunities and I probably just need to do that a bit better over the weekend.
Q. Does that putt at the last have a potential trampoline effect at the end; the old cliché is dinner will taste a bit better, but breakfast tomorrow will, as well, won't it.
JUSTIN ROSE: I think so. I think I probably feel like I got a good score out of today with holing that putt on the last. And if you finish bogey, bogey, no matter how badly you've played, you're never going to feel good about things. All in all, I'm satisfied. I think it's a start; it's a start I can build on, and yeah, I guess I'm pretty satisfied all in all.
Q. And in context of the race, Henrik is proving a fair old frontrunner, isn't he. You saw him up close today.
JUSTIN ROSE: He seems to be getting off to strong starts in all his tournaments recently. He's got his name on the board.  He's making it hard for the rest of us. But I knew that could be the case. I didn't‑‑ that's why I wanted it to be in my own hands this week, if I won a golf tournament‑‑ which is obviously what we try to do every week, and then it would be in my hands and that's still the case.
My goal remains the same for the rest of the week.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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