US PGA Championship 2024: Justin Rose chasing 'golden opportunities' for more Major success

More than a quarter of a century into his career as a professional, Justin Rose’s passion to succeed still burns as bright as ever.

The Englishman will this week make his 22nd appearance in the US PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club. Experience is something he has in spades.

That and a knowledge his game continues to stand up to the test of Major Championships, none more so over recent years than the US PGA Championship.

In three of his last four starts, he has finished in the top 10 and on the other occasion he was just outside – T13. Impressive to say the least.

"If I look back at last year, Brooks [Koepka] was obviously again very strong on Sunday, but I was playing with Scottie Scheffler and I got off to a really good start [in the final round] and had the leaders wobbled at all, I was right there," he told the DP World Tour from Valhalla.

“That's kind of what I'm looking for at this stage of my career. Keep just chipping away at it and find myself in positions where I can have one or two more golden opportunities left to do something special in my career.”

This is a man who has won a Major, reached World Number One, been a Ryder Cup stalwart for Team Europe, won gold at the Olympics and lifted silverware around the world on both the DP World Tour and PGA TOUR.

As far as “special” achievements, he has ticked off many a golfer would dream of at the outset of their career.

In short, there is a well of belief in his game when he gets near to the top of leaderboards.

"Obviously each US PGA Championship feels a different event because the golf courses can be completely opposite in terms of the test that they can present," he added.

"The commonality I think between all PGA Championships is it is always a demanding championship style golf course. It is always set up firm but fair. They never try to find the edge or go over the edge.

"But they obviously still want it to feel like a Major Championship and a step up from a regular PGA TOUR or DP World Tour set up so that stresses the game. It is nice to know that in the last four years my game has been able to find what is needed."

This week the 43-year-old tests his game at a venue he knows better than most in the field, having won three of his four matches on his Ryder Cup debut in 2008 and played there when it last staged the US PGA Championship in 2014.

While the course has undergone changes since then, largely with placing accuracy off the tee in mind, experience could be an invaluable asset to him.

"I was coming in here not thinking that my experience was not going to be valuable at all," he said.

"I thought the changes were going to be more extensive than actually how they feel. The course feels quite familiar to me, which is nice.

"It's been lengthened in parts, which probably doesn't suit me, but that's just the nature of the beast and the nature of the game.

"But I think with the rest of it, we can kind of build a good strategy this week. Good, solid old-fashioned fairways and greens are going to work well.

"The rough is fair, so the length off the tee is important this week but at the same time the greens are complex enough that you've got to be quite disciplined with your iron play."

With World Number 68 Rose not currently in the field for next month's U.S. Open, after his exemption as a past champion at Merion in 2013 expired last year, the desire to perform well this week is only heightened.

And with the top 60 on the Official World Ranking when it next updates on Monday securing a spot, Rose is heading into the week with the belief a top 10 in Kentucky is required to bridge the gap.

"I don't really know what I need to do but if you need to play well you may as well play really well," he said.