World No 13

Midway through 2006, Nick Bradley, Justin Rose’s coach, said that his new charge would be “British No 1 within two years”. Fifteen months on, Rose has delivered after a joint-twelfth finish at the US PGA Championship put him above Luke Donald in the world rankings.

On top of that, Rose’s performance in this season’s major championships were bettered by only one player - Tiger Woods - as the Briton finished in ties for fifth at the Masters, tenth at the US Open and twelfth at the Open to climb to No 13 in the world.

It says a lot about Rose that he has not got carried away by his efforts. “Next year [2008], it’s just more of the same,” he said. “I’m not trying to reinvent the wheel. I just need to find that extra 1 per cent. My biggest improvement has been my mental approach. My goals were to make all four cuts [in the majors], have two top tens and one chance to win. And I had that chance at Augusta.”

He looked likely to get another chance at the US PGA before he took four to get out of a bunker in his third round and had a quadruple-bogey eight. In the past Rose would have chastised himself and taken several holes, if not rounds, to recover, such was his intensity, but he put it to the back of his mind to post a level-par 70 and followed that with a final round of 69.

Before this season he had been in danger of becoming the forgotten man of golf, but the turnaround in his form can be traced to the input of his new coach, who has helped to instill the mental strength and belief that the 27-year-old is thriving on. His upturn may also be a result of his marriage in December 2006 – suddenly there was more to golf for the player who came to prominence (and yet was in danger of being remembered only) for holing out at the 18th during the final round of the 1998 Open Championship to finish fourth as a 17-year-old amateur.

After that wedge shot, Michael Bonallack, the secretary of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club at the time, had been moved to say that Rose was Britain’s answer to Woods. It is only now, after his decision to play his golf in the United States as well as Europe, that Rose is beginning to live up to that comment.

“I’ve really enjoyed my reinvention this last year; a new coach, new caddie, a new management team. It’s all working for me,” Rose said. “There has to be a balance between having a good working life and achieving what you want to achieve. I feel I used to be too intense and find now that being more relaxed works for me.”

Factfile

Age: 27 Nationality: English Wins: 5 Major wins: 0 Major record in 2007: Masters: tied-fifth; US Open: tied-tenth; Open: tied-twelfth; US PGA: tied-twelfth How he qualified for World Match Play: Ninth on Major Championship ranking Previous WMP experience: One