Justin Rose says his latest Masters heartbreak has only strengthened his resolve to continue working towards winning a second Major title.
The Englishman lost out on claiming the Green Jacket to Ryder Cup team-mate Rory McIlroy in a sudden death play-off at the climax of a dramatic final round at Augusta National.
Starting seven shots adrift of overnight leader McIlroy, Rose carded ten birdies in a stirring six-under-par 66 on Sunday but it was not enough as he narrowly missed out on adding to his 2013 U.S. Open triumph.
The 44-year-old, who lost in a play-off at the Masters to Sergio Garcia in 2017 and also finished runner-up in 2015, has now finished in the top six at three of the last four Majors and he is keeping the faith that his moment to win one of golf’s four biggest prizes again will come again.
“What do you choose to dwell on, you know what I mean?” said Rose in his post-tournament press conference. “There's no point in being too despondent about it and you look at all the good stuff that got me into this situation.
“You can't skip through a career without a little bit of heartache. It's not going to happen.
"If you're willing to lift the big championships, you've got to put yourself on the line. You have to risk feeling this way to get the reverse.”
Rose led after both day one and day two but fell back with a 75 on Saturday that he admitted left him with a mountain to climb heading into the final round.
However, despite still being adrift of McIlroy for much of his round, he found himself at the top of the leaderboard momentarily after he birdied the par-three 16th and his fellow European dropped his fourth shot in a four-hole stretch at the 14th.
He dropped a shot at the 17th but showed great heart to finish with a birdie to the set the clubhouse target of 11 under, before McIlroy recovered from missing a five-foot birdie putt at the last in regulation play to make amends at the first extra hole and seal his first Masters title and the career Grand Slam.
Making his 20th appearance at Augusta, Rose described his performance across the week as some of the finest golf of his career, but he was left to rue the fine margins of the sport.
“It's a bogey away from being the greatest round I've ever played,” he said. "It is a great round. I think if you look at the quality of golf, it possibly is.
“And also, just being in the back nine on Sunday at the Masters, to be able to play that way.
“But obviously there are moments there that you look back on and you go, 'OK, made the wrong mistake there and the wrong mistake there at the wrong time'.
“But tough to dwell on that because ten birdies on this golf course today was unbelievable golf.”
As a result of his runner-up finish, Rose has risen to 12th on the Official World Golf Ranking and boosted his chances of playing in a seventh Ryder Cup later this year, climbing to fourth and inside the automatic qualifying spots for Luke Donald’s team.
