Justin Rose is looking to continue his quite stunning recent match play record at this week’s WGC – Accenture Match Play Championship.
The Englishman’s epic Ryder Cup singles victory over Phil Mickelson at Medinah in September was the catalyst for a run of match play form that saw him take down Tiger Woods and Lee Westwood en route to winning the Turkish Airlines World Golf Final just two weeks after Europe’s historic Ryder Cup win.
The 32 year old is now hoping to continue his unbeaten run in the one-on-one format at the first World Golf Championship event of the 2013 season.
“I definitely would like to ride that wave of momentum and confidence,” said Rose ahead of his first round tie against South Korea’s KJ Choi at the Golf Club at Dove Mountain in the Arizona desert.
“There was a couple matches in Turkey that I pulled off a shot when I had to. Obviously in The Ryder Cup against Phil I pulled off a shot when I had to.
“You can't always call on that on demand and you always need a little bit of fortune to hit the right shot at the right time, but certainly the lesson I learned from those experiences is to be patient, even if you get down in a match, keep doing your thing and limit the mistakes and just believe that you can turn it around still.
“I think a mistake a lot of guys make in match play is to push a little too much when you get behind in a match. That’s when you start to give away cheap holes, and that's what you can't afford to do at this level. The experience I've gained the last six months match play wise will help me this week.”
In a field consisting the very best players on the planet (with the exception of the injured World Number Four Brandt Snedeker and Number Nine Phil Mickelson), Rose will have to be on top of his game to take home the second WGC title of his career.
