Fit-again Rose ready for return

US Tour

It has been a difficult few months for Justin Rose, but the US Open champion is raring to go after taking time out to recover from an injury.

The world number five will make his 2014 debut at the Northern Trust Open at the at Riviera Country Club this weekend after spending several weeks on the sidelines due to a shoulder problem.

Rose injured his shoulder throwing a golf ball to his caddie in September, but battled through the pain. However, he was forced to take timeout in January and missed the Abu Dhabi Championship and the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.

The 33-year-old, though, is eager to get going again so that he will once again be 100 per cent by the time the first major of the year comes around.

“A lot of hard work went into me being here,” the Englishman said. “If I’m honest, I’ve only really been hitting balls and my driver for about a week to 10 days now. So it really has been down to the wire.

“It was a race against time. If I wanted to play well in the near future, I thought it was important for me to get out and play some competitive golf. That’s how I’m going to contend in majors. Certainly, I want to be 100 per cent come April for The Masters.”

Rose has indicated that he is likely to play at next week’s WGC Accenture Match Play if he comes through the Riviera, and he admits he’s “swinging it really nicely” after his injury-enforced absence.

“I played pretty much from October last year with it not perfect,” he continued. “I assumed a little bit of rest over Christmas would heal it, but it didn’t really and that’s when I knew I needed to put a little bit of extra time into it, but nothing serious, nothing torn, no surgery required, nothing like that.

“I’m feeling good. Like I said, a lot of hard work went into me being here. I figured that I wanted to get out and play, and if I wanted to play well in the near future, I thought it was important for me to get out and play some competitive golf.

“My game’s felt really good at home. I’m swinging it really nicely and everything technically looks really good. I had an opportunity to spend a lot of time on my short game, but when you get a scorecard in your hand everything is a little different. So I wanted to get my season under way.”

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