Golf
Rose Justin
Justin Rose will have a chance to finish a stellar year on a high when
the world No 2 tees off on Thursday in the defence of his Indonesian
Masters title.
The 38-year-old will be the highest-ranked player at the Royale
Jakarta Golf Club with Ryder Cup teammate Henrik Stenson and India’s
Shubhankar Sharma, the newly crowned Asian Tour Order of Merit
champion, expected to be among main challengers.
“I have always had the mentality that the golf course doesn’t
recognise who is the best player in the world,” Rose said ahead of the
season-ending Asian Tour event.
“I don’t tee off ahead of these guys because of my ranking. We tee off
together with the same score on Thursday. It is about a great week’s
work. There is no complacency from that point of view.”
Sharma, 22, played in all four major championships this year and won
the European Tour’s rookie of the year.
And 2013 US Open champion Rose has been impressed with the rise of
Asian players on the global circuits.
“We are seeing Asian players crop up all over the world and compete at
the highest level. More and more players are graduating from the Asian
Tour,” said Rose, who lead from the first round to win last year’s
tournament by eight strokes.
“I think it is a sign of things to come. If you look at the LPGA, they
are strongly represented by Asia unbelievably well. We are beginning
to see that happen on the men’s side.”
Stenson hopes the fact that he has never played in Indonesia before
will not hurt his chances.
