Justin Rose believes he isn’t far away from a low score as he rued missed opportunities on the greens at the halfway stage of the acciona acciona Open de España presented by Madrid.
After opening his campaign with a level-par 67 on Thursday, the Englishman enjoyed a better day in the second round as he mixed five birdies and a single bogey to climb to four under at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid.
Rose is making his first appearance at Spain’s national in more than two decades, just two weeks on from playing an integral part in Team Europe regaining the Ryder Cup at Marco Simone Golf & Country Club in Rome.
Despite comfortably making it through to the weekend, the Major Champion argued his position on the leaderboard wasn’t reflective of his performance over the opening two days.
“Ten foot and in has cost me this week,” Rose said.
“I think I used them all up at the Ryder Cup. I feel like I have missed 13 or 14 putts inside ten feet.
“I have hit a lot of shots close to the flag this week and just haven’t capitalised.
“Each birdie I have made has been quite painstakingly slow progress because I have been squandering so many chances.
“It became a little bit of an eye on the cut and grind just to make sure nothing went awry on the back nine.
“I have played pretty good the first couple of days and I feel I am due a low one so hopefully just keep with it and my time will come out here.”
Rose spoke earlier in the week of his desire to play at the DP World Tour Championship, with the top 50 available players on the Race to Dubai Rankings in Partnership qualifying for the season climax in Dubai.
He is lying 83rd on the season-long standings, with just three events remaining for players to secure points and the 43-year-old knows he needs everything to click together if he is to force his way into contention for a 12th DP World Tour title.
“I think it is going to require two really low scores,” he said.
“I probably need two 64s on the weekend to have any chance but I am playing well enough and just need that putter to warm up.”
