Justin Rose Reveals Lengths He Went To Chasing Belated Ryder Cup Return

Justin Rose has won a Major, been world No.1 and got Olympic gold yet he admits the Ryder Cup ignites a passion in him unlike anything else in golf.

English veteran Rose, 43, is all smiles this week after being named one of Luke Donald's six captain's picks for Rome later this month. He got the nod along with Ludvig Aberg ,Tommy Fleetwood, Sepp Straka, Shane Lowry and Nicolai Hojgaard.

Rose feels it vindicates both his encouraging form on the PGA Tour, where he made the BMW Championship in the FedExCup Playoffs, and also the lengths he went to in a bid to prove to Donald he was ready for his sixth appearance in Team Europe's side after even cancelling family holidays to find his form.

The father of two reflected: "Four years, it slips by pretty quickly and I know there wasn't a ton of good golf in there for me. As this opportunity came around, I felt like it was a huge motivator for me. 

"One of the biggest inspirations I had was the Ryder Cup to really kind of prove that I was still playing well and that obviously my form was good and not give Luke too much of a headache in terms of trying to justify a pick in me, because experience is always a great thing to have in a team. But you need a guy who is playing well. There's no point in having experience and no game.

"So my real energy and focus through the FedExCup was to sort of prove that I was playing well and I kind of canceled a couple of family holidays that we had planned just to really put some work in and prove that I was playing well enough. It was really front and centre for me the last couple of months."

Rose was helped this year by captain Donald having six wildcards in a change to the selection criteria but the veteran insisted he was always trying to qualify automatically.

He added: "My mentality was to try and make the team but it was also just all about proving that my game was in good enough shape to justify a pick. There were going to be a lot more opportunities for a pick this time.

"Nevertheless, I'm super grateful for the opportunity because it has not gone my way in previous Ryder Cups. It's not something you want to keep relying on. You want to make the team fair and square and that's been the goal forever. But my main motivation is to show that I am Ryder Cup ready and really, now my goal for the next three weeks is to make sure I'm winning points ready."

Rose played in the Ryder Cup previously in 2008, 2012, 2014, 2016 and 2018 and has won 13, tied two and lost eight with a total points tally of 14. On his most recent clash with the Americans at Le Golf National in 2018, Rose registered two points from his four matches as Europe regained the trophy under the captaincy of Thomas Bjorn but they now face a big battle after USA's dominant win last time.

Rose, who will play at Wentworth next week, said: "As a player, it's just what can I do over the course of the next three weeks just to go out and put myself in the best opportunity to win a point, which is why you're on the team.

"When you do wear a crest and you are representing something much bigger than yourself, I feel like it reminds me to be the best version of myself, which hopefully then in turn makes me play some of my better golf."