Justin Rose shook the golfing world back in 1997 when he tied for fourth in the Open at Royal Birkdale as a 17-year-old amateur.

Since then his career has gone from strength to strength, climaxing in a first major title at the US Open last year, and back-to-back wins in his last two tournaments bring him into Hoylake as one of the favourites with the world number one ranking also in his sights.

But firstly, he needs to finally conquer the challenge of links golf, as that 1997 showing surprisingly remains his best performance to date in an Open.

In the last four Opens he has missed the cut three times and tied for 44th in 2011.

Not a record to be proud of and one that Rose is determined to put firmly behind him.

“My Open record is not particularly good if you look at it on paper,” Rose admitted.

“That would suggest that there definitely needs to be a change of mindset. That happened for me last week, I played the Scottish Open to get more familiar with links golf.”

Rose had a shoulder injury that hampered him earlier in the year, but the 33-year-old Ryder Cup star has been in superb form of late, winning on the USPGA Tour at Congressional two weeks ago before completing a back-to-back triumph at Royal Aberdeen last week.

It is all proof, he believes, that he is firmly anchored in the middle of the best years of his competitive golf career, which he hopes will see him add to his collection of major titles.

“I said when I was 30, so in 2010, that was in my mind, the next ten years from that point were going to be my prime,” he said.

“There comes a point when you’ve got to stop learning and start doing. Now through the next six or seven years is absolutely important to me.