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Rose - Cup not a priority

Image: Rose: searching for top form

Justin Rose admits he is giving much thought to the Ryder Cup at present, insisting his priority is rediscovering his best form.

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Englishman hopeful of rediscovering top form soon

Justin Rose has admitted he is not currently giving much thought to qualifying for Europe's Ryder Cup team, insisting his priority is rediscovering his best form. Rose won the European Order of Merit in 2007 and was up at the lofty heights of sixth in the world rankings. At the time he was widely regarded as one of Europe's top talents and went on to underline it with his Ryder Cup debut at Valhalla in 2008 when picked up three points from a possible four on his debut in the event. However, he has failed to build on those achievements in recent times and now finds himself back at 76 in the world after enduring a prolonged lean spell. The 29-year-old believes he is not far from reproducing his eye-catching form of a couple of years ago, but concedes he can not currently allow himself to get sidetracked with thoughts of the Ryder Cup - however much he might want to make Colin Montgomerie's team for Celtic Manor. "I can't even worry about the Ryder Cup right now," Rose stated. "That's probably not what Monty wants to hear, but not worrying about it is giving myself the best chance to make it. "If I win two or three tournaments here in the States I'm going to be in the Ryder Cup. Easier said than done of course, but it's doable for me. "And if I get close to the team I will certainly amend my schedule as I did two years ago to give myself the best possible opportunity. "But right now my priorities are different. Getting back to playing good golf and getting back to winning, that's my focus. We all know that good golf takes care of everything else."

Chasing PGA Tour win

Despite his recent barren run - just two top-10s on the PGA Tour last year - Rose went through the US$10million mark after finishing 37th in his last tournament in Los Angeles two weeks ago. Yet he has still to win in more than 150 starts Stateside and acknowledges he is desperate to change that stat sooner rather than later. "It's a big goal of mine to win here," he continued. "I've achieved a lot in Europe and don't feel I have in America yet. "The fact I spend most of my time here means I feel I should be performing better. "I just wanted to get off to a faster start here and by doing that I could then spend a bunch of time back in Europe over the summer. "If you are playing well and are in the right events it's a non-issue, but if you start falling out of the top 50 it leaves you in a very precarious situation in terms of fulfilling requirements on both Tours."
Positive signs
But he remains confident a change of fortune is not far away, claiming there are plenty of positives to take from the state of his game at present. "I'm driving the best I ever have, I'm lying eighth in all-around driving on the PGA Tour and that's the first time I've been remotely near that," he continued. "I feel good about my game and feel close. I'm really doing my best not to worry about my ranking right now because I don't feel it reflects how well I am playing or the player I am. "I'm just focusing on the process and what I know I can control. If I am dedicated and disciplined about doing all the right things then it's going to come. "If I have a bad result and get uptight and frustrated it's not going to happen for me. That's the longer way around."

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