Former champion Justin Rose believes victory at the Link Hong Kong Open is a genuine prospect this week, as he aims to stake a place in the 2025 European Ryder Cup team and claim a first W of the season.
Rose is hoping a good performance this week in Fanling, on the eighth of 10 elevated Asian Tour-sanctioned events on The International Series, could help to spark a decent run of form ahead of the 2025 season.
Rose, the 2015 champion at Hong Kong Golf Club, returns for the first time since 2017 in decent form having recorded two top 10 finishes in majors this year: a T2 behind Xander Schauffele in The Open at Royal Troon and a T6 behind the same player in the US PGA Championship at Valhalla.
Those are his best results of the season. And as a six-time Ryder Cup star, he is still holding dreams of reclaiming a place on the team to face the US at Bethpage Black next season – especially having played a pivotal role as a wildcard in the comprehensive 16.5-11.5 victory in Rome last time out.
He said: “The Ryder Cup - alongside the major championships - are what I am trying to use as my fuel.
“This is why this year was a good year in the sense of really coming so close, and it gave me the belief that I am still capable of winning a major championship.
"You need that belief first and foremost to put in the requisite hard work that it takes to do it right. If you don't really quite believe you can do it, you're not really going to go that extra mile when you need to."
Despite the two major performances, the 44-year-old feels his season did not quite live up to his high standards and expectations.
"I felt like that was the main takeaway from this year. I would say overall, I was not happy with how I played, a lot of searching, a lot of struggling, a lot of fighting, trying to find my game. But the moments I did find my game, I was contending in majors."
Rose, a US Open winner in 2013 and Olympic Gold medal winner in 2016, also sees the Link Hong Kong Open as an opportunity to end the season on a high - with a first victory of the season.
He said: "An event like this, you never know where you spark your confidence. And of course, where you come back and you have good feelings and memories, absolutely. I hadn't won this year and it is always nice to chalk one off. It would be nice to chalk off a win, to say, okay, I wasn't struck out this year. I managed to get one done. So yes, it is a last chance for that, and then to take that momentum into next year, absolutely. Because the Ryder Cup is still a big, big focus.”
The International Series is the most prized pathway in golf. It consists of 10 elite tournaments sanctioned by the Asian Tour and offers the year-long Rankings leader promotion to the LIV Golf League
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