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Rose blown away

19/ 7/2008

JUSTIN Rose now has another Birkdale memory - his worst-ever round in The Open.

The 27-year-old, fourth on the course as an amateur a decade ago, slumped to a third round 82.

Rose's previous highest score in the championship was a second round 80 at Sandwich in 2003, but this one could well result in him falling out of the top 10 in Europe's Ryder Cup table.

And if he does not back there in the next six weeks he will require a wild card from captain Nick Faldo. Competition is stiff for those.

Rose said: "Sure it's all the more disappointing because it's here.

"I wanted to do well and I had high hopes.

"But I know how to deal with it. It was almost unplayable, some of the toughest conditions I've played in, and I'll take it with a pinch of salt.

"I tried my hardest on every shot, but I've been buffered around and it was hard to get it into the hole from two feet.

"On a day like today you need to hole out well and it's tough to do that."

Told that Lee Westwood had complained about the media pressure at The Open Rose commented: "It's the nature of the beast.

"People, the media, get ahead of themselves, but it's the player's job to stay in the moment.

"The fact is that there has not been a British winner for a long while (Paul Lawrie was the last in 1999), everyone is dying to see that and there are a good lot of British players."