By Frank Pingue
AUGUSTA, Georgia, April 10 (Reuters) – Justin Rose feels no different in his bid to go one better than last year’s heartbreaking Masters runner-up finish, but the Englishman will need to find a new gear after defending champion Rory McIlroy built a massive cushion atop a crowded leaderboard.
Rose, who lost to McIlroy on the opening hole of a sudden-death playoff at last year’s Masters, was in a three-way share of fourth place after a three-under 69 on Friday left him at six under on the week and six shots back of the Northern Irishman.
The 45-year-old Englishman, a three-time Masters runner-up, said the passage of time has done nothing to dull either his edge or his ambitions.
“No, I feel the same, which is good,” he said. “I think if I can feel the same, that means I’m doing a lot of other good things because I’m not feeling older and stuff like that. I feel the same. I feel in good form. I feel in good spirits.”
The 2013 U.S. Open champion added that while the desire to win is burning as brightly as ever, he was wary of the trap of trying too hard.
“I don’t really need to try any harder; know what I mean? I think trying harder is — I just think the experience in that is probably trying harder ain’t going to help me,” he said. “So that’s probably the dance I’m doing with myself.”
But now Rose will need a significant McIlroy stumble over the weekend to have a chance of finally slipping on the Green Jacket.
Rose’s round was anything but straightforward. He opened with a bogey after an errant tee shot and then found his ball nestled under a bush at the fifth, threatening to derail his afternoon entirely before a par save steadied the ship.
He then caught fire around the turn, picking up his first birdie of the day at the seventh before making three consecutive birdies that included a run through the par-four 11th to briefly move into the lead. A bogey at the notoriously treacherous 12th was offset by a four-foot birdie putt at the par-five 15th.
“I felt like the round could have gone either way,” Rose said.
“I’m under a bush on No. 5, already one-over for the round. I felt like momentum was definitely going the wrong way at that point in my round, so I think I did a good job of digging in at that point and rebuilding the round, so I give myself a lot of credit for finding that momentum and finding that good play.”
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Augusta, Georgia; Editing by Ken Ferris)
