Q. You birdie your first four holes, get off to a great start. Take us through the round and assess the day as a whole.
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, I think a lot of good golf today. Putted unbelievably, made a lot of mid-range putts, read the greens really well. That's something I focused on on the putting green last night and my warmup this morning was adding a little bit more reading of the greens into my warmup.
Made those mid-range putts early, sort of four in a row. At that point it's like what could be. But kind of frittered the round away, gave back quite a bit.
But I still think I got paid off towards the end of my round. I stayed patient there in the middle there when things weren't going as well, and then nice strong finish, and for 65 I felt like that was pretty reflective on a good day's work.
Q. Was your attitude good during the lull of that round and that helped you towards the end of that round?
JUSTIN ROSE: I think that's what kind of paid off for me, yeah. I realized I was still under par for the day, still under par for the tournament. Just stayed patient, respected that this is a championship golf course. Even though there are some birdies to be made out there, you still have to go and play well but be patient, as well.
Yeah, I was kind of accepting of the few mistakes I did make, and like I said, it was nice to finish strong.
Q. You have a reputation of playing very well on courses like this. Why do you believe the more difficult the courses, the better you play?
JUSTIN ROSE: I think it's more strategy. I love strategy, and I think that tougher golf courses reward more strategy.
Obviously if you couple good strategy with good ball-striking, normally it's a pretty good combination.
I just think the patience that's required to play certain tests, that it's not flat-out driver on every hole, I kind of value that, putting the ball in play, angles, if you do miss, how do you not compound an error, those sorts of things.
Listen, I've made plenty of mistakes in my career and will continue to make mistakes this weekend, but I think the more you can limit the amount of them mentally, that's going to help on these types of tests.
Q. Do you know the scenarios for you to move on to East Lake, and if you do or don't, do you focus on any of that or do you just go out and play golf?
JUSTIN ROSE: Listen, I'm 32. I'm on the outside looking in. So for me, nothing-to-lose attitude this week. I know the projections will change, but you can't cash a check until Sunday, so for me, even if I project in the top 30, my mindset is nothing to lose this week, and just get on the front foot and obviously just play this golf tournament, not play Atlanta yet. We're here to play this golf tournament, respect this tournament. This is a great tournament in its own right. It's not a stepping-stone into next week.
This is a huge championship to win. So keep focused on the here and now.
Q. In your career as a whole, how have you measured improvements in your game, or do you measure it by wins, do you measure it by finishes? Is there something else that you measure improvements in your game by?
JUSTIN ROSE: It's a good question. It's obviously easy just to think about results, but maybe improvement incremental to age might be an interesting one, comparing yourself to other great players in their 40s, how they've done, how you can do.
I feel like maybe there's no one ranked higher than me in the World Rankings that's older than me. You've kind of got to look it a little differently. Obviously you're playing against a bunch of 25-year-olds; that's not necessarily the way to always measure it. Although I do feel that's what gets me up in the morning, that's what makes me still feel like I can compete out here is because I can still be a better version of myself I feel next year than I have been this year.
That's what I've always been like. I've always pushed myself to improve. That's the reason I play the game, to be honest with you, is to feel like I can get better myself and just to play against myself from that point of view.
Yeah, I feel very hungry at the moment to do that. I do feel like this has been a step forward this season. Still don't feel like I'm operating at my highest level, but I'm moving towards that. It's exciting.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports