Ryder Cup 2018: Justin Rose ready to let emotion shine through as he prepares to battle for Team Europe again

Interview: The world's No.1 golfer is confident but insists he has put his FedEx Cup triumph aside

Two decades ago at The Open Championship, an ungainly teenager tilted his hairless chin God-bound, opened his arms as though asking for a hug, and embraced the echoes. ‘Get in the hole’, they had cried before the ball duly obeyed.

And for all the success which would follow, Justin Rose has still never since seemed quite so overwhelmed with emotion. But stepping on to the par-5 18th at the Tour Championship last week, he offered a rare glimpse beyond the exterior.

Having spent most of the day foraging for errant tee shots, he required a birdie to clinch the FedEx Cup. Disconnected all day long from his driver, just one unswerving strike would effectively be worth $10 million. Rose unleashed one of the straightest and sharpest shots of his entire career and as the winning putt dropped, he roared into the eyes of the pro-Tiger crowd and raised a fist to the man sky-bound once more.

“Ultimately the way I won the FedEx Cup was through my consistency season-long,” he said. “But more so, if I boil it down to just having to play that last hole to win, the feelings that I faced are going to be very similar to this week. To make it on the one that's on 18, that's the one that counts.”

The FedEx Cup was the ultimate testament to Rose’s endurance and all that he has accomplished in the 20 years which separate the two celebrations. Each groove on the skin of the baby-faced Birkdale star represents a triumph from which he’s monotonously moved on. As soon as his hosanna in Atlanta arrived, it was over. Rose receded from the spotlight, plastered his emotion, and packed a bag for Paris to let the cycle continue.

Rose held off Tiger Woods to bank the $10m top prize at the FedEx Cup (AP)

It’s why, at 38 years old, Rose has only just reached his peak, why he’s the world’s No.1 golfer and why he’s one of the game’s most respected players.

“Apparently all the drinks are on my tab this week but for me, the FedEx Cup finished on the plane,” he added. “Once I landed, I was one of 12 guys. I didn't want it to carry over into this week. This week is about another job.”

In fact, it’s in the events where Rose represents country and continent that he does offer the most discernible displays of emotion. In 2016, after winning an Olympic gold medal in Rio, the Brit didn’t beat the lion on his chest because a gold post box would land in Hook, Hampshire, but out of patriotic pride. And it’s why, even at his fifth Ryder Cup, the veteran is still wrought with excitement and anxious anticipation.

“You never get comfortable with it,” he admitted. “I don't think you can ever really walk on to that first tee Friday and go, ‘yeah, this feels good, or this feels normal’. You feel alive.

“José Maria Olazábal gave us a little memento one year, and it says, ‘All men die but not all men live’. What he meant by that is feeling the adrenaline, feeling that emotion.”

Rose’s record in European blue is as formidable as his partnership with Henrik Stenson, their bromance now descending into the dreaded family holiday stage. The FedEx Cup may have been a crowning acknowledgement of the qualities that have for decades defined him, but it only affirmed something already known to those in the Ryder Cup locker rooms: that Justin Rose is the most reliable and persistent performer in Paris.

“I’ve played 19 out of the 20 matches [possible] in the Ryder Cups I've played,” he pointed out. “I will be ready.”