Rose keen to keep his cool in final week of Race to Dubai

Justin Rose says he is only thinking about the DP World Tour Championship and not the bigger picture.

The 37-year-old came into the final week of the European Tour season trailing Tommy Fleetwood in the Race to Dubai and made a strong start to the tournament on Thursday, carding a first-round six-under 66 at Jumeirah Golf Estates.

That was enough to leave him one off the lead behind Patrick Reed, while Fleetwood could only manage a one-over 73 and appears to have work to do.

Rose previously claimed the Order of Merit in 2007 and having won on both of his last two outings, knows another victory will give him a second Harry Vardon Trophy.

However, anything lower than solo fifth will give Fleetwood the honours but for now the 2013 US Open champion is keeping calm.

He admits that with all the permutations surrounding the event, the best thing for him to do is concentrate on the task at hand.

“There’s two things to think about this week: winning the golf tournament and winning the Race to Dubai,” he said. “I know that if I do one of those, the first one, then the second one happens.

“I’ve just got to try and put together a really good final three rounds and do what I always do.

“Really happy with that as a start. I wanted to come out today with good intent and get myself moving forward quickly. Been fortunate enough to have won the last two events but been doing so from quite a long way behind and you can’t always rely on that.

“I was definitely keen today to come out and try and get going as quick as I could this week and see where it goes from here.”

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