Justin Rose believes he’s ready to win again.
He won the Farmers Insurance Open in the winter and has contended in some big tournaments since, the Englishman has not added to his trophy case.
On Friday in the second round of The Northern Trust, Rose followed his opening-round 65 with a 68 and stands at 9-under, three shots out of the lead held by Dustin Johnson entering the final 36 holes at Liberty National.
“I won a tournament at the beginning of the year. I’d like to sort of start to win one towards the end of the season now,’’ Rose said Friday. “To be able to bookend things would be pretty good and make it a great year.’’
He called his position one “that I can build on going into the weekend for sure.’’
“I’ve got nothing to lose, which it really great,’’ he said. [I can] freewheel this weekend and try to put myself in position.’’
Rose has four top-10 finishes since his win at Torrey Pines, including a third-place finish at the Wells Fargo Championship in May and a tie for third at the U.S. Open in June at Pebble Beach. Most recently, he finished in a tie for 20th at the British Open last month.
“I’m way closer with my game than I was through the U.S. Open and The Open Championship,’’ Rose said. “It was great to compete in both those majors really not playing that well. The putting and short game held in there really well for me. The putting is still holding up really nicely. I’m beginning to see some momentum with the long game which is great, and hopefully can continue to build that these coming weeks.’’
Rose is the defending FedExCup champion, pocketing the $10 million first prize last year. He entered this week 11th in the 2019 points standings.
“I’ve got a great opportunity [to repeat],’’ Rose said. “The system is set up that no one can run away with it. I’m in a great position right now. It would be nice to have a good solid couple of weeks that I can get up that leaderboard starting Thursday morning at East Lake [at the Tour Championship]. And, it’s a golf course I really, really like.
“I feel if I was to be able to start leading, would be great. But if I can be within touch — three, four, five shots — then I would be very confident going into East Lake.’’