Dubai: England’s Justin Rose is hoping to carry forward his positive momentum while entering the final round of the DP World Tour Championship at the Earth course at the Jumeirah Golf Estates.
Rose finished on 11-under par and three shots adrift leaders Rafa Cabrera-Bello and defending champion Henrik Stenson on Saturday. The 34-year-old English golfer seemed to be headed towards a strong finish but a bogey on the third and ninth did not help his cause.
However, Rose — whose best this year has been a win at the Scottish Open in July — did well to turn things around on the back nine with four birdies to compile a day’s score of 68 to give himself a chance of chasing Stenson and Cabrera-Bello on Sunday.
“I said to myself on the 10th tee and I actually said if I could shoot 4 under on the back, I could have a chance going to Sunday. Just setting the intention was important for me. I played some good golf on the front nine but haven’t got a lot out of it. To turn it around on the back nine and make the putt on 18 feels good and carry some momentum into tomorrow,” Rose said.
The Englishman was in total awe of playing partner Cabrero-Bello, who went on to shoot the day’s best of seven-under par 65 and remain tied at the top with the defending champion. “I watched an incredible round of golf today. Rafa Cabrera Bello was unbelievable. He really struggled with his game the first few holes, up and down, up and down, up and down, and then got some flow going. He had 15 1 putts today. His short game was Seve like. It was awesome,” Rose complimented.
However, Rose admitted that he could not make use of such inspirational play from his Spanish partner. “No, I did not get any energy from his [Cabrero-Bello] fine show. It shows what you need to work on. He was unbelievable. He was chipping it to a foot and it was awesome. Chipping around this golf course is difficult, very grainy, very tough, very sandy underneath the ball. It was a master class,” he added.
Rose felt confident he had a chance for a final onslaught on Sunday. “I said if I shoot four-under on the back nine, I’ll be in with a shout on Sunday. That’s what happened and I just kind of hung around really,” he admitted.
