TOUR Insider: Rose wants more Birkdale memories

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When Justin Rose visited Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England, in early May, there wasn't much he recognized about the course that a decade before signaled his arrival on the world golf stage.

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Justin Rose finished fourth the last time the Open Championship was held at Royal Birkdale in 1998.

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Not that he or millions of golf observers could ever forget what transpired at the 1998 Open Championship.

Just 11 days shy of his 18th birthday, Rose capped off an improbable bid for the Open title by pitching in for eagle at the 72nd hole at Birkdale that lifted him into a tie for fourth place. Mark O'Meara claimed Champion Golfer of the Year with his playoff victory over fellow American Brian Watts, but Rose blossomed before his countrymen's eyes that week in taking the Silver Medal as low amateur.

He turned pro the next day and endured a torturous few years before finding his footing and his future. When he returns to Birkdale this week for the 137th Open Championship, Rose does so as the reigning Order of Merit winner on the European Tour and the ninth-ranked player in the world.

His reconnaissance trip with Adam Scott two months ago was as much about relearning a layout that has undergone an extensive renovation as it was about recalling a life-altering experience.

"I didn't remember a lot of it, to be honest," said Rose, whose tie for fourth made him the first amateur to finish in the top 10 in a major in 27 years. "They made about 17 changes to the golf course, but it's very, very subtle changes there ... and it's looking really good.

"Yeah, there were a few little memories, funny things that happened during the week and stuff like that," Rose added. "It was an unbelievable week. That's the reason I did it more than actually learning the golf course; it was just time for me to get what happened 10 years ago out of my system, so when I get there in July I can get down to business."

Royal Birkdale, which is hosting its ninth Open, all since 1954, got the business end of some shovels since it last welcomed the world's best golfers. The par-70 layout was lengthened 155 yards to 7,173 yards. Many greens were repositioned and trees were removed throughout. Twenty bunkers were added while 41 others were either moved, removed, or reconfigured. Birkdale dates to 1889, when George Low laid it out, but Fred Hawtree renovated it in preparation for the 1991 Open.

Birkdale is known for its many dunes and for greens set against and into the hillocks, but its fairways have relatively little movement. The most pernicious element of the course, at least this week, will be the rough, which has grown lush from steady rains. Combine the long grass with the humps and bumps along the periphery and you have a rather nasty experience due to those who stray from the playing corridors.

It is the most target-oriented layout in the Open rotation, which might explain why Americans have thrived there. Arnold Palmer, Johnny Miller, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson and O'Meara all triumphed at Birkdale. Aussies Peter Thomson (twice) and Ian Baker-Finch won the others.

Of course, one American who won't be there is the No. 1 player in the world, Tiger Woods, who underwent reconstructive knee surgery just eight days after his momentous U.S. Open playoff victory at Torrey Pines. Woods hasn't missed a major championship since the 1996 PGA Championship, for which, as an amateur, he wasn't eligible. At three-time British Open winner, Woods last missed the Open Championship in 1994.

FEDEXCUP POINTERS

• If he's healthy, don't be surprised if Vijay Singh makes a run at one of the two major titles he hasn't won. He is one of only two players in the field to have finished in the top 20 in the last two Open Championships contested at Royal Birkdale. Singh, recovering from an injured oblique muscle in his ribcage, finished tied for 12th at even-par 280 in 1991 and tied for 19th in '98 despite finishing 10 strokes higher at 290.

• We mentioned two players who have finished 20th or better at the previous two Birkdale Opens. The other is Champions Tour member Mark O'Meara, the '98 champion, who in '91 tied for third with Fred Couples.

• There are 16 men who competed at Birkdale in 1991 who are in this week's field. Of those, 12 also played in the '98 edition.

• After O'Meara, who defeated Brian Watts in a playoff for the '98 title, the highest returning finisher from that year, besides Rose, is Jim Furyk who was one of four players who tied for fourth at 2-over 282. The others were Jesper Parnevik and Raymond Russell. Parnevik, by the way, is entered this week at the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee. Don't know if anyone else noticed, but Furyk is coming off arguably one of his best efforts of the year at the AT&T National, where he tied for third. Furyk didn't make a bogey on the weekend in shooting 7 under par, and, in fact, played bogey-free golf over his final 52 holes.

• Jodie Mudd holds the scoring record at Birkdale, shooting 63 in the 1991 championship, which also happens to be the championship record shared by seven men. Interestingly, no one has scored as low as 63 since Nick Faldo and the late Payne Stewart at Royal St. George's in 1993.

• With No. 1 Tiger Woods on the sidelines, No. 2 Phil Mickelson is, naturally, drawing more attention. Mickelson, who finished joint 38th at the Barclay's Scottish Open, has only one top-10 finish in the Open Championship, however, a tie for third in 2004. At Birkdale, he tied for 73rd in '91 and was 79th in '93.

• Ernie Els tied for ninth at the Barclay's Scottish Open in his first event after reuniting with caddie Ricky Roberts, with whom he won all three of his major championships. Els had been working with Irishman JP Fitzgerald for the last 18 months, and in March broke a three-year victory drought at the Honda Classic.

• Another major caddie shakeup involves veteran Jimmy Johnson, who is in the midst of a three-week stint with Steve Stricker. Johnson most recently looped for Charles Howell III. Stricker needed a new teammate after Tom Mitchell decided to step aside to spend more time at home with his family.

• While 156 players battle it out in England, closer to home another 132 players are in Wisconsin at the $4 million U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee. Kenny Perry, winner in three of his last five starts, is the obvious favorite at Brown Deer Park Golf Course. Heck, he'd be the favorite at Birkdale if he chose to traverse abroad, but the honorable Kentucky native chose to honor his commitment to the tournament he won in 2003, and we have to applaud his earnestness.

• The previous five winners -- including Perry -- and six of the last seven, have entered the U.S. Bank Championship, as have nine of the top 12 finishers from the 2007 edition, so the field is populated with players familiar with a tight, tree-lined layout that last year was in the top half in difficulty despite being a mere 6,759 yards, par 70.