Justin Rose: TOUR Championship a long overdue debut at the top

Justin Rose will make his first start as the world’s No. 1 golfer this week at the TOUR Championship. After a 20-year run to get there, he’s laser focused on what it will take to stay on top.

Justin Rose has become an exceptional golfer over the course of his career.  Now he’s reached the status of No.1 in the world.  Like many who have come before him, he likes that number.

“I accept it’s really tight up top,” Rose acknowledged about the current rankings in a media interview at the Tour Championship. “It could easily switch this week.”

While he had a celebration after reaching the pinnacle of the rankings, it was somewhat tempered by his playoff loss at the BMW Championship to Keegan Bradley.

“Obviously it was disappointing to finish the tournament that way. I felt like I had done such a good job, and I knew I was two back of Keegan when he birdied 17 and then to birdie 16 and 17 on top of him, I just felt really, really good about where I was at,” Rose explained.

Despite the damper on his enthusiasm for becoming No. 1,his friends and fellow Tour players didn’t see it that way.

"“The reaction on my phone, you can always judge it on your phone,” he said. “If you win a Major, your phone blows up; you win a tournament, you get a nice bunch of messages. And getting to World No. 1, my phone blew up again. You can kind of gauge it from the response really of your wider network. It was a big moment for sure.”"

The only way he can stay at the top, as he knows, is by continuing to perform at a high level.  This year, the key to his success has been improved putting, going from 10^th in strokes gained putting to second.

“For me, just the putting side, I’ve simplified it,” he explained. “I haven’t added more to putt better. I’ve taken things away and simplified in order to putt better.”

Rose has had many special moments in golf. When asked how he would rank his most impressive career achievements he noted that he would include the Olympic gold medal, winning a major championship and being No. 1, but not necessarily in that order.

“This is a moment we’ve worked hard for, but also you realize that life goes on at home,” he said adding that his children moved on to other things right away. “Kate gets caught up with her world, so nothing changes at home. I’m still No. 2 or 3 there.”

As a golfer who has experienced the highs and lows in golf during his career, Rose looks forward to playing his first week at No. 1. And because he has the credentials of winning on the biggest stages, it is hard not to make him a favorite this week at the Tour Championship and also for winning the FedEx Cup. But Rose knows having the No.1 status doesn’t guarantee him a trophy.

“I’ve always said whether you’re defending champion at a tournament or if you’ve played somewhere well the previous year or if you’re World No. 1, the golf course doesn’t recognize it,” he added.

The rest of the season, he has additional opportunities abroad to stay at No. 1 should he fall from the top this week.

“If I go to 2 or 3 this week, if Dustin and Brooks both play well, I have an opportunity the week after and British Masters, and going to China and Turkey — whatever my schedule is the rest of the year,” he noted. “So I’d love to end the year No. 1. I’d say that’s a goal.”