Justin Rose admits Masters victory would feel like 'a gift'
The English golfer is contention for this year's title
Justin Rose admitted a Masters victory at this stage of his career would feel like "a gift" after maintaining his impressive bid for a second major title.
Rose added a second round of 71 to his opening 65 to set the early clubhouse target on eight under par, 21 years after he held the halfway lead on his second appearance at Augusta National.
The 44-year-old, who grew up in Fleet in North Hampshire, is the only player to have led or shared the lead after each round of the Masters without winning, finishing second to Jordan Spieth in 2015 and losing out to Sergio Garcia in a play-off in 2017.
"I think I'll take it any time," Rose said of potentially winning a green jacket.
"Beggars can't be choosers, you know. But I would take it right now for sure. Sometimes if it happens too early in your career, you've got a lot to live up to.
"I think if it happens now, I would enjoy it, I think, probably a lot more, coming a bit more as a gift towards the end of your career. So I think there would be a lot more satisfaction in it for sure."
Rose won the US Open in 2013 and was asked if it felt like a dozen years had passed since his triumph at Merion.
"Not really because I feel like there's been other sort of great accomplishments in that time," the Ryder Cup star added.
"I think winning the Olympic gold medal in 2016 gave me a lot of satisfaction in that interim period, getting to world number one, winning the FedEx Cup.
"I think really big milestone moments in my career have happened in that 12 years, which distracts you from the fact that you haven't won a major in that period.
"Yeah, 12 years slips by pretty quick. But I haven't been dwelling on that fact at all, really."
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