Focusing on Fanling

Speaking ahead of his appearance at October’s UBS Hong Kong Open, former US Open champion Justin Rose discusses his expectations for the event, his thoughts on Jordan Spieth and why he thinks the world’s best players just keep getting younger and younger

Rose will be looking to avenge that missed cut at Fanling in 2012

What do you look forward to the most about returning to the UBS Hong Kong Open in October?

I think it’s fantastic that UBS is on board and fantastic that the tournament is one that I really enjoy. I missed the cut by one shot last time I played, so that’s still a weight upon me but I am very much excited about coming back to Fanling, which is a course I did enjoy, and try to challenge for the title and be at the right end of the leaderboard on Sunday.

We’ve heard you describe the Hong Kong Golf Club as a traditional members’ club, but what features of the course itself stick in your mind?

When I say it’s a traditional members’ club, what I mean by that is it’s a really classic golf course. It’s very rare these days to play composite courses. Fanling is a great treelined golf course that has many challenging holes. I think also by member’s course, it doesn’t have to be long course to be a challenging course. I think there are so many new courses that we play today, what makes them difficult is the water, the bunkers, and the length of the golf course. Fanling is a very intricate course with trees and a lot of good design details. So, I am looking forward to trying to put a game plan together and to master it.

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