THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP

July 19, 2013

Justin Rose

Q. What were your expectations coming in here?
JUSTIN ROSE: I had high expectations, or high hopes, really. I didn't really have any expectations. It's been a little -- the preparation has been unusual for me coming in here three weeks off. But that was always going the slight unknown, I'm afraid, taking three weeks off before this. But the decision was made hoping I'd be playing well, and hoping I'd get myself in contention and really need to be mentally recharged for the weekend. Obviously this golf course proved just a little too much for me this week. I wasn't quite prepared for that. I wasn't quite prepared to play the U.S. Open again, to be honest with you. This felt more like Shinnecock Hills in 2004 than it did an Open Championship. So I wasn't really expecting that, for sure. I didn't have my game to be playing this type of golf on this type of golf course; there's no let-up, really. And like I said, I just wasn't quite ready for the task, I'm afraid.

Q. (Inaudible.)
JUSTIN ROSE: I don't think so. Obviously it's hard to sit here 10-over par and tell you otherwise. But I did everything I could for three or four weeks to get myself ready and I felt that was enough time. If I'm honest, my game never felt great coming in here, but I felt if I could give myself a chance and hang around, I could get better as each day went on. That was my plan. And obviously I felt like obviously the conditions being so tough, didn't really help that happen. I felt like a slightly softer test would have helped me work my way back into playing shape a little bit quicker. This is brutally tough, I have to say.

Q. Because of that is there any humbling factor in this?
JUSTIN ROSE: Golf humbles you all the time. I've learned the hard way in this game many, many times. There was never any expectation -- I was never really going to get ahead of myself, there's no doubt about that.

Q. How would you so completely switch off (inaudible.)
JUSTIN ROSE: Well, obviously I played the Travelers, and then probably traveled best part of ten days, only ten days, I would say.

Q. (Inaudible.)
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, once I'm out on the golf course obviously I'm into this tournament. And I was quite happy for Thursday to come around. And obviously it was nice to see people, nice for people to congratulate me. Obviously a lot of friends I hadn't seen, so it was nice to share it with them. But at the same time, when I was on the golf course, I was out there to play The Open Championship, as I will be my next tournament, I'll be there for that. You can't live in the past. You have to keep going onward and upward.

Q. (Inaudible.)
JUSTIN ROSE: Absolutely. They are difficult to win. Guys spend their whole careers trying to win one, let alone more than one. And they are incredibly difficult. And a lot of things need to lineup. You basically need to have your best stuff pretty much anytime you do play in a Major to give yourself a chance. But I feel that my game does suit the Majors generally. I feel like over the next five to ten years I should be able to create more and more opportunities. My goal is to get better as a player, not to chase down more and more tournaments. I'm invested in improving my game and improving myself and improving my mental game. And I think that's what's going to drive me on to more success, not really going now and single-mindedly targeting more Majors. There's more improving as a player I can do.

Q. As a Major champion, is the disappointment the same when you can't quite turn it on in big tournament?
JUSTIN ROSE: I'm one week removed, two weeks from removed from winning a Major, so it's just a bad week. And to be honest with you, there's so many variables out there on that golf course, I'm not going to take it seriously. I'm not going to give myself a hard time about it. It was two days, two not very good rounds on a very, very tough golf course, on a course that maybe I wasn't 100 percent expecting and prepared for. Simple as that. I'm not looking too deeply into it, I'm afraid.

Q. If you had the last two weeks back again, what would you have done different?
JUSTIN ROSE: I would have done what I did, I spent two weeks with my kids and had a life. And enjoyed it, which is exactly what I've done. No regrets.