Justin Rose hoping DP World Tour is 'huge beneficiary' from golf's shock merger

Justin Rose, the star attraction in this week’s Betfred British Masters at The Belfry, is hoping the DP World Tour can be a “huge beneficiary” of changes that will come about through golf’s shock merger.

Justin Rose poses for a portrait prior to the Betfred British Masters hosted by Sir Nick Faldo at The Belfry. Picture: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images.

Along with just about everyone else in the game, Rose has no real idea about what the future holds through a commercial merger between the DP World Tour, PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).

But, speaking at The Belfry, where this week’s DP World Tour event is being hosted by Sir Nick Faldo, the former US Open and Olympic champion offered a view on what he’d lik to see in response to being asked the importance of top European players supporting their home circuit once the new landscape is mapped out.

“I think it's very, very important,” said Rose. “I think these tournaments have a great support and great history and I think they deserve to really have had the support of tours, which they do, but also have the support of top players because that's clearly the currency in which we all trade in, top players kind of make a tournament.

“Obviously if there's too much competition, like three tours vying for one product, which is the players, it does become very, very difficult. So hopefully that is what we're all trying to move towards with all the noise that's going on at the moment, is one more unified system and set up, which I guess is the ultimate goal.

“No-one knows quite how we're going to get there, but, if that is the case, then hopefully the DP World Tour is going to be a huge beneficiary of any changes that might come along in the future. We can only hope and events like this will have a much better chance of getting them strength of strength.”

Rose, the world No 31, is the highest-ranked player in the field at the Ryder Cup venue as he makes a welcome appearance in an event he won early in his career at Woburn in 2002 then hosted at Walton Heath in 2018.

“It's got a character, I think, this tournament,” said the 42-year-old. “It has these little touches (referring to the fact he was sitting in a Union Jack armchair, and it does feel very British. It's going to be well supported and it has some energy building around it, obviously Nick supporting the event now and being attached to it for for the foreseeable future, I think is pretty good. It gives it more depth in terms of history and and significance. So I feel like the tournament is in a good spot.”

As for that title triumph, he admitted: “It is still one of the most significant victories in my career. More from an emotional point of view than anything. It was the one victory that my father was actually able to be there on the 18th green and witnessed himself in person, one of my only as a professional, and he was able to see that. It will forever be special from that point of view.

“Obviously there was a great back and forth between myself and Ian Poulter. We had a great duel, a ding-dong battle. He actually hosted me that week, so I wasn't very gracious as a guest. It was an amazing week for sure.”

Rose is hoping for another one in this year’s Ryder Cup in Rome. “I like the way the team is shaping up,” he said, looking good himself to make a sixth appearance in the biennial event. “We’re now coming into that last few months (in the qualifying campaign) and I think the European team looks to have a really strong base.”