Justin Rose happy to wait for Ryder Cup chance

Justin Rose has made a date for the Ryder Cup but he won't be chasing points for the European team.

Rose is European golf 's form man and would be making his Cup debut at The Belfry on 27-29 September if Sam Torrance's squad had been selected on current performances.

However, following the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington which led to the postponement of last September ' s match, Torrance and USA captain Curtis Strange agreed to retain their 12-man teams.

A week after marking his debut in America by claiming 23rd place in the US PGA Championship, Rose finished a creditable fifth at the NEC World Championship and insisted: "This was never an issue for me.

"Sure, I would have been in the team but you know the story, and what it's all about. The guys already in the team deserve their place and that's the way it's going to be.

"But it will be good for me to watch the match now, as it's a real possibility for me to make the team in 2004. I will take more note of what it is all about, viewing it as homework instead of viewing it as a fan." That attitude-is typical of the 22-year-old and his final 18 holes at the Sahalee Country Club here was a case in point.

A three-under-par 68 gave Rose a fourround total of 10-under 274, six shots behind Australian winner Craig Parry. "I really hung in there and stayed patient," he said. "I had a couple of Sundays recently, at the Open and at the PGA Championship, where I hadn't done too much.

"I had great opportunities to do better in those tournaments but I figured I was trying too hard. Here I stayed really relaxed. I made a couple of bogies but I didn't let them get to me. I just kept plugging away."

Rose retains an outside chance of a callup if either of the two wild cards in the European team - Jesper Parnevik and Sergio Garcia - withdraw. However, Ian Poulter, who finished 11th in last year's Ryder Cup table, is first in line.

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