JUSTIN Rose believes his career will have come "full circle" if he can win the BMW PGA Championship, his first event in Britain since he took Olympic gold.
Rose attended the European Tour's flagship event as a teenage spectator and has twice come close to winning it, losing a play-off to Anders Hansen in 2007 and finishing joint second in 2012.
And the 36-year-old would love to add a victory at Wentworth to a CV which includes the 2013 US Open, four Ryder Cup appearances and that historic triumph in Rio as golf returned to the Olympics for the first time since 1904.
"It's a tournament I really enjoy," said Rose, who was forced to miss the event last year due to a back injury.
"It would be kind of a full-circle moment for me if I was to win here because there's a lot of kids behind the 18th green looking for golf balls and gloves and I was one of those kids a long time ago.
"It takes me back and it sort of makes me realise how far I've come, as well, to turn up at this tournament and be a legitimate contender for it.
"This is a top six or seven tournament in the world for me, including the major championships. That's the way I regard it and that's how happy I'd be if I was to win it."
Rose has played just once since losing a play-off for the Masters to Ryder Cup team-mate Sergio Garcia, the world number nine finishing 65th in the Players Championship after a final round of 80 at Sawgrass.
"I wasn't alone in shooting a high score on Sunday," the 36-year-old added. "A lot of top-class players did the same thing.
"It's the kind of course that tempts you into those sorts of scores and mistakes, especially when you're middle of the pack and you're trying to make something happen and you get on the wrong side of things.
"Without reading too much into it, I actually did really well to make the cut at Sawgrass. I wasn't feeling great about my game and rightly so, to be honest.
"I sort of downed tools a little bit for a couple of weeks after the Masters, almost intentionally to really rest up and recover, and then turn my attentions to the summer, because it's a big summer of golf ahead and you're going to need a lot of energy to get through it.
"For me it was sacrificing a little bit of form for a few weeks, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I see this next block of golf as really building things back up towards the US Open and then it's non-stop really from now right through the FedEx Cup and on.
"It always takes one putt, one swing, one round, just to get a little bit of momentum going and then you're back up and running. I think that's one thing I've learned in my career is that you're never far away from playing well.
"It can feel the opposite at times. When you aren't playing well, good golf feels so far away, but I know that it isn't. It's always just around the corner."
IRISH FIRST ROUND TEE-TIMES
0835 Shane Lowry
0845 Darren Clarke
0855 Padraig Harrington
1135 Damian McGrane
330 Paul Dunne
340 Neil O’briain
