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Rose set for hero's return at Walton Heath
October 10, 2018
World Number Two Justin Rose will play the Sky Sports British Masters for the first time since 2003 when the Englishman plays host at Walton Heath Golf Club, joined by his fellow Ryder Cup winning team-mates Tommy Fleetwood, Francesco Molinari and Thorbjørn Olesen.
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“I'm the fourth guy to host now, and Poults, Luke and Westy have all done great jobs hosting this tournament before me. Four years has seemed to go really quickly. I can't believe this week, and my turn, is now upon us. But I'm really looking forward to it."“I've enjoyed the commitments in the year building up to it, and it hasn't felt like hard work as the Tour have been great in making it as easy as possible."
“A couple of my good mates from the Ryder Cup are joining me at Walton Heath, including the Moliwood pairing, which is great."
The 2013 U.S. Open Champion, who briefly topped the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time in his career last month, has been suffering a minor cold in the lead up to the event but will tee it up alongside defending champion Paul Dunne and another former winner, Matt Fitzpatrick, on Thursday morning.
The famously supportive British crowds will no doubt be out in force to watch the pick of the afternoon groups, when record-breaking Ryder Cup duo Fleetwood and Molinari – otherwise known as ‘Moliwood' – tee it up together alongside Olesen.
"It's great to be here," said Molinari. "Obviously it's kind of a home event for me here close to London, so I can't wait for the week to start."
"I haven't played in Europe really since The Open, on the regular European Tour since Wentworth, so it's been a while. But it's nice to see a lot of familiar faces, and to receive a lot of congratulations for The Ryder Cup and everything else."
"Obviously it will be slightly different not playing together as a team with Tommy, but it's going to be fun playing together tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will hold like this for the rest of the week. The course is in great shape, so it should be a great week."
In another Ryder Cup-themed three-ball, the winning European Captain Thomas Bjørn will make his return to competitive action alongside two of his Vice-Captains in Paris, the in-form Padraig Harrington and 23-time European Tour winner Lee Westwood.
