Saturday, November 9, 2013

Turkish Airlines Open: Justin Rose would relish battle with Ian Poulter

Justin Rose: Not eligible for appearance bonus

Justin Rose is looking forward to going "head to head" with Ian Poulter as both bid to overhaul Race to Dubai leader Henrik Stenson.
The English pair could both go top of the money list with victory at the Turkish Airlines Open, the penultimate event in the European Tour's Final Series.

Rose won in Antalya last year when the tournament was an exhibition, and he would relish the chance to do battle with his Ryder Cup team-mate at next week's DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

But Poulter has an advantage ahead of the end-of-season showdown as he qualifies for a 20% bonus on all prize money from the Final Series having played in all three events.

Poulter will have at least 130,000 euros added to his total, but Rose is not eligible for the bonus after he elected to miss the BMW Masters in Shanghai.

With a shade over 200,000 euros between them, Poulter's bonus could prove crucial to the outcome in Dubai, although Rose joked: "I would make sure Poults knew he needed a 20 per cent bonus to beat me.

"I still see Henrik as the man to beat, and, to do that, you're going to have to play some good golf.

"Any time you go head to head with Poults, he's a great competitor, so it will be fun to go eye to eye with him.

Exciting

"It's going to be exciting going into Dubai. There's obviously a lot of money at stake here, and, if Henrik was to win, he'd probably be in a very strong spot.

"But the likelihood is that it will all come down to Dubai, which I think is exactly what you want for the final tournament of the year.

"Being European number one is right up there, for sure. I think at this point, it's now the goal for the year - it would be the icing on the cake.

"Having won the European Tour order of merit, I would say, before I won the US Open this year, that was my career achievement and something that I was very proud of.

"So to have the opportunity to do it for the second time, in the modern era, in the new format, would be great."

Rose is in the final group out with world No 1 Tiger Woods and Stenson in Thursday's first round, while Poulter is playing alongside Lee Westwood and Matteo Manassero in the penultimate group.

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