The Rise and Rise of Justin Rose

At 32, Justin Rose is as well-rounded as they come – an eager young man doing a job he enjoys whilst remembering that there is a world outside.

On the Tuesday of the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, the week when he had that staggering fourth-round 62 to finish second place behind Rory McIlroy, he had been tending his jet-lagged son, Leo, for much of the night. And thinking nothing of it.

Again, though it might have been a little different had this interview taken place after that 62 rather than ahead of it, he was less interested in talking about his own feats than the Ryder Cup. The match in general as opposed to merely the 2012 instalment.

He had not had time to savour the putts he holed against Phil Mickelson in Medinah – “I’ll look at the film over Christmas” – but he had been studying results from Chicago and Celtic Manor in tandem. Europe won on both occasions but he wondered if people appreciated how they had captured only two out of seven of the foursomes and fourball sessions on offer over the two matches. (They halved two of the others and lost three.)

“I think,” he said in the manner of one who could not quite believe it, “the situation has suddenly flip-flopped. We used to be the stronger in the foursomes and foursomes but, this year in particular, the Americans were the ones coming up with the great pairings. It’s definitely something we need to look at for 2014.”