:: July 09
The Times Online, July 19 2009 - I Paid Price for Bad Club Choice
The start I had today signalled I wasn't going to win the Open. Two bogeys in the first six holes was not what I wanted. Yet when I got to the 13th green I had a 6ft birdie putt and thought, if I could hole that and get to two-under that would be a decent target to finish on. But I failed to make the putt and from there on knew I was playing for a place.
I finished two over par. A 70 is not bad out there. It was a very steady round of gold even though I was looking for better. My last eight rounds of golf have been very solid, in fact. In Washington I shot 71, 69, 69, 69 and here I had rounds of 69, 72, 71, 70 in some tough conditions. That is eight very good rounds of golf on two difficult golf courses in varying conditions.
I hit four or five bad clubs this week. I am sure everybody else is doing it. It is not possible to play a course as difficult as this without making mistakes. That cost me six or seven shots. They were clubs I was deliberating over and I chose badly. That is frustrating but I guess everybody can walk off and say that.
It has been a great week. Turnberry far and away exceeded my expectations as a golf course. I really enjoyed it.
Now I have to decide on my next event. Do I play the Buick in Warwick Hills in the US or do I take time off? I need to make some money in the US to get myself up the FedEx points list. On the other hand, my game is in good shape and I know I could do with some time off. I feel I don't have to spend every waking minute practising.
My wife, Kate, and I are going to Italy for four days on our own, which will be lovely. We are going to a beautiful hotel in Tuscany that a friend has put us in touch with. We haven't had a holiday together for some time.
Mum is going to look after Leo, my son. She has been so much a part of Leo's life that he feels comfortable with her, though I bet we will be ringing up every night to find out how he is.
The Times Online, July 18 2009 - Late Birdie Gives Me Hope
That is a tough golf course out there. Let's be clear about that. So to score 71 having frittered away five shots is impressive. A 65 was a smidgen away. I could even have posted a 65 or a 66. I know I've got a 65 in me.
I'm in a good position with one round to go. I am five shots or so behind the leaders. I holed a birdie putt on 18 to give me a glimmer of hope that all is not lost. I would love to be one or two strokes better but you can't have it all. The putts are going to have to start going in at some point and that could be tomorrow. How good would that be?
A 65 in a flat calm tomorrow is not going to do me much good because everyone else will be as well. But I am teeing off an hour or hour and a quarter before the leaders. To tee off an hour before the leaders and post a good score is ideal. The downside of teeing off an hour before the leaders is it means you are not a leader yourself.
In terms of comfort level I feel as comfortable with my game as I have ever felt. Knowing there is not a loose swing coming around the next corner makes me feel great. If I look back at 2007, what I did then was I putted great. It's as simple as that.
From a ball-striking perspective I don't think I have ever been better. My control, my trajectory are great. I can hit it high, I can hit it low, I can hit it left to right, I can hit it right to left. I just need a little confidence with my putter. If I look at my putting statistics I am close, I really am.
I must not get frustrated. When I feel as though I am getting frustrated I reset my goals. You have to give yourself something to play for. If it is not winning, then it is getting into the top ten. If it is not getting into the top ten then it's doing whatever gets you back here next year and if it's not that then it's fighting for respect and it's not respect you're fighting for then it's your pride. If I am not going to win this championship I want to contine the momentum I have shown this week.
We had the toad in the hole yesterday that Fooch had been drolling about for days. He was disappointed. He said he could have cooked it better than our chef. It's the only dish he reckons he can cook better then Byron. Tonight it's fish, something light and healthy. Got to get myself ready for tomorrow.
The Times Online, July 17 2009 - I Have a Fighting Chance
I felt I played really really well today in my round of 72. I hit 14 greens plus the par-five 17th in two. It was a great ball-striking round of golf. I am right there. I should be six or so behind at the end of the day and that gives me a chance on Saturday.
One over is the worst I could have been after my two rounds. I don't feel I have any bad shots in the locker at the moment. I am swinging freely, I am hitting the ball better and have picked up a little distance with my driver.
I wish my score was better. It should have been but I am generating momentum. I want to win the championship. That is still the goal. So far so good.
Fooch [his caddie] has been fantasising about eating toad in the hole. We have a chef in our rented house and he is going to knock up the dish later. Then I shall put my feet up, watch some golf and hopefully see someone else in tough weather. We had the worst of it so far. There is 15 hours of golf in a day at the Open. You never know what you're going to get.
Flag placements were bordering on ridiculous today. I think they were trying to protect the course. The flags were opposite to the direction of the wind. I was fighting it all day. When the wind was from the left the pins were cut on the left. When it was downwind the pins were cut on the front and, when it was into the wind, the flags were at the back of the green. We were standing on the 9th tee and getting buffeted. You were moving around so much, it felt as though you could top it into the ocean.
I have made a couple of putting errors. Seems like I have to do a lot of things to make a putt: perfect read, perfect speed, perfect line, perfect stroke. When you're putting well, you see it and it is in. The putter I am using has a line on the top and I use that to line up with my ball, which also has a line on it.
My allergies were slightly better today. I took a hay fever tablet last night. Mum has kindly been looking after Leo, my son, so we're not involved in any night-time action with him. Kate put a picture of him and the Ryder Cup in my yardage book this week so I am reminded of him all the time.
The Times Online, July 16 2009 - Back Nine Proves I'm in Form
One under par, a 69, may not be that good given how easy the course played but it was a great for me after such a bad start. I was three-over-par after five holes and I had to give myself a talking to and turn it around after that. I'm pleased with myself for doing that. To go four-under for the last 12 was good. I looked at the scoreboard and saw many built a score over the first 12 but I did the opposite.
I was concerned early on. I was making mental errors. On the 2nd, I hit a strong tee shot where I should have backed off. On the 11th I used a seven-iron when it should have been an eight-iron. But you're going to make mistakes and I made some basic errors but I didn't let it bother me.
Today was phenomenal for Tom Watson. It should be his day after a 65. It was funny. I looked at the scoreboard and noticed that Tom was at five-under and ten guys were log-jammed at four under. Nobody wanted to go past him.
It is exciting to be only four back. You never know what the weather will do tomorrow, whether I get the best of it or the worst. I salvaged the day today. Had I shot over par, it really would have been a missed opportunity. I don't think the scoring will be as low the rest of the week. You can't get a calmer day in an Open Championship than we had. It was a relief compared to last year. The first nine holes at Birkdale were the toughest I have ever had to play.
My task is to keep the momentum I created on the back nine. On the 15th we had a long wait. I was getting tired and towards the end of my concentration. I knuckled down, took deep breaths and played the next four in two under. That could be the key point in the Championship for me. I hope so.
The Times Online, July 15 2009 - When the Going Gets Tough, I Get Going
This is it, then. The Open. The one event every British player wants to win. I have dreamed about holing the winning putt hundreds of times. I am not in particularly good form at the moment but I am sure my golf will improve and that I will play better in the future than I ever have in the past.
To be honest about today, my last practice round, I was intent on making sure I did not hit any slack shots as I did on Tuesday. Practice rounds can take a long time and I am afraid I went awol for a few holes. Today the course looked beautiful at that time in the morning. The sea was like a millpond. Today I fully appreciated what a beautiful course Turnberry is and how difficult it is, too. It is a great golf course.
I hope that over the next few days the weather will be tough. That would suit me. I like it when the going gets tough. That is when I seem to do well. It was almost too calm when I played today with Paul Casey and Jeff Overton. Normally my golf bag is full of waterproofs, fruit and bottles of water but today I put in sun cream. Having spent four or five hours out in the sun I must say feel a little pink now.
I got up at 5.30 this morning, drove to the golf club after breakfast and did a good warm-up in the locker room. This is not a few minutes waving my arms around. I do about 20 minutes stretching. I do some core stability work and I do some lunges and that sort of thing. Then we walked out to the 8th tee.
I hit the ball fine but perhaps not great today. It is hard to flush the ball seven straight days. Today I concentrated on reading my putts. It is so easy to hit putts to the four corners of a green, where you think the flags will be for each day, and then go to the next tee. But it is important to try and read the putts on the course, to remind yourself of how to do it. There is a lot of artistry in putting.
I have decided how I am going to play the 9th. Because the landing area is shaped like a hog's back, your ball can roll either to the left or to the right. Even if you hit four really good drives, two will go to the left and two to the right so my view is it's best to whack the driver. Besides, the left rough is not quite so long.
Kate and Leo travelled up independently to meet us here when we got back from Ireland. My Mum drove up separately. Fooch is staying in the house with us because we had a spare bedroom. And Margi [Justin's sister] and Mike, her boyfriend are coming to stay as well. The house is in Girvan, south of Turnberry, and though it is only a few miles away, the speed restrictions imposed by the police for this event mean it takes us 15 minutes to get to the course.
I am hoping for good things this week. I know I need to start producing good golf. I am ranked 53rd in the world at the moment and that means there is only way to go and that is up the rankings.
July 10, 2009 - The Justin Rose Tradition Charity Golf Day Raises over £175,000 for Cancer Research UK
The inaugural Justin Rose Tradition Charity Golf Day took place on Wednesday 8th July at the prestigious Stoke Park Club, raising a staggering figure of £176,000 for Cancer Research UK. The format for the day saw 80 golfers take part in a celebrity Pro-Am, with captains such as Tim Henman, Jodie Kidd, Matt Dawson and Bruce Forsyth, CBE, all leading their teams into battle on the golf course. Following the golf, over 120 guests enjoyed the evening entertainment in a glamorous marquee on the lawns of Stoke Park where auctioneer Jonny Gould brilliantly persuaded bidders to continually increase their offers for the ‘money can't buy' prizes.
The charity day is an event that Justin had been dreaming of organising for some time and was delighted to see so many friends, family and supporters coming together for the occasion and he had nothing but kind words to say following such a successful first event:
"Given the importance and meaning of the day to me personally, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank the many companies and individuals, including our great celebrities, who all took time out of their busy diaries to help make this day unique. It is impossible to name you all but you know who you are.
I would especially like to thank one of my sponsors, Tradition, for so generously supporting the day, allowing us to organise the highest quality event whilst maximising every penny we raise for Cancer Research UK. I am deeply grateful and appreciative.
The day itself was all about raising as much money as possible for Cancer Research UK's vital work, which will one day help us beat cancer. Many of you know that I lost my dad, Ken, to Leukaemia in 2002; ten years earlier my wife Kate had suffered a similar fate when she lost her mum, Patsy, to breast cancer. This common bond between us has driven us to do all we can to support cancer charities both here, and in the US where we live.
Cancer Research UK is the world's leading charity dedicated to cancer research. In 2007/08 they spent almost £44 million on breast cancer research alone, making them the largest single funder of breast cancer research in the UK. They also support a broad spectrum of research into leukaemia in adults and children. This includes laboratory studies into the biology and genetic basis of leukaemia, as well as testing new treatments in patients. But there is still so much to be done.
When I asked people on the night to please dig deep to help make a bigger difference, you can imagine our delight when we learnt that my charity golf day had raised a mind blowing £176,000, which was way beyond any of our expectations. The money raised from the day will be ring-fenced specifically for leukaemia and breast cancer research.
You can see from the pictures below that the day itself was enjoyed in such great spirits and I still cannot believe that the winning team in the golf consisted of my Manager (Marcus), my caddy (Fooch) and one of my best mates who works for TaylorMade (Macca) - who were joined in their team by Charlotte Jackson, TV & Sports Presenter. 
That only leaves me to say thank you once again for your support, not only for my charity golf day, but for all the years many of you have come out and walked the fairways alongside me, checked my website to see what I've been up to, and also for the encouraging messages of support you send. I don't often get to say thank you, but this means more than a lot to me".
