Rose secures match play shot

Finishing in the top 12 of all four majors this year has given Britain’s Justin Rose the opportunity to return to the World Match Play Championship at Wentworth in October.

Rose – fifth at the Masters, 10th at the US Open and 12th at both the Open and USPGA – qualifies for a shot at the £1m (€1.4bn) first prize from a table of world ranking points achieved at the majors.

The 27-year-old’s one previous appearance in the event was in 2002 when he lost to Vijay Singh on the final hole of their first-round clash.

Major winners Zach Johnson, Angel Cabrera, Padraig Harrington and Tiger Woods top the table. Woods was already qualified for Wentworth as world number one, but is not expected to play this year.

Paul Casey is exempt as defending champion, while also earning places now if they want them are Jim Furyk, six-time winner Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia, Woody Austin, Retief Goosen and Rory Sabbatini.

Anders Hansen and Niclas Fasth won spots last month from a separate list of designated European Tour events and two more places will go to the leading two non-exempt players on the Order of Merit on September 24. Henrik Stenson and Andres Romero are currently in position to take those.

Rose, now up to 15th in the world compared to 126th this time last year, said: “I think I prepared well for the majors. I got myself up for them and, scheduling-wise, I’ve been fresh for them. Next year I intend on doing the same.

“Golf-wise I have to keep getting a little better. It’s a fine line. That’s what we’re dealing with, that last one per cent. I am not trying to reinvent the wheel for next year, that’s for sure.

“Mentally is the biggest improvement. There are a lot of times when you are tested in majors patience-wise more than anything.”

His best chance came at the Masters where he was one off the lead with two to play, but double-bogeyed the 17th.

Major rankings:

1 Tiger Woods 203.0pts, 2 Padraig Harrington 119.25, 3 Zach Johnson 109.25, 4 Angel Cabrera 107.65, 5 Jim Furyk 69.59, 6 Ernie Els 69.25, 7 equal Sergio Garcia and Woody Austin 60.00, 9 Justin Rose 54.71, 10 Retief Goosen 53.86, 11 Rory Sabbatini 45.58, 12 Jerry Kelly 40.88, 13 Andres Romero 40.00, 14 David Toms 39.95, 15 Niclas Fasth 38.55, 16 Scott Verplank 36.23, 17 Hunter Mahan 35.88, 18 Paul Casey 33.99, 19 Stuart Appleby 31.90, 20 Arron Oberholser 31.55