Former champion Justin Rose is aiming for victory at the Link Hong Kong Open, which starts tomorrow, in a bid to stake a place on the European Ryder Cup team and claim a first W of the season.

Rose, the 2015 champion here at Hong Kong Golf Club, returns for the first time since 2017 in decent form having recorded a joint second finish behind Xander Schauffele in The Open and an equal sixth placing behind the same player at the US PGA Championship.

Those are his best results of the season. And as a six-time Ryder Cup star, he is still holding dreams of reclaiming a place on the team to face the US at Bethpage Black next season – especially having played a pivotal role as a wildcard in the comprehensive 16.5-11.5 victory in Rome last time out.

Rose is hoping a good performance this week in Fanling could help to spark a decent run of form in 2025. He said: “The Ryder Cup – alongside the Major championships – are what I am trying to use as my fuel.

Justin Rose at the pre-event press activity on Tuesday. Picture by Paul Lakatos/Asian Tour.

“This is why this year was a good year in the sense of really coming so close, and it gave me the belief that I am still capable of winning a Major championship.

“You need that belief first and foremost to put in the requisite hard work that it takes to do it right. If you don’t really quite believe you can do it, you’re not really going to go that extra mile when you need to.”

Despite the two Major performances, the 44-year-old feels his season did not quite live up to his high standards and expectations.

“I felt like that was the main takeaway from this year. I would say overall, I was not happy with how I played, a lot of searching, a lot of struggling, a lot of fighting, trying to find my game. But the moments I did find my game, I was contending in Majors.”

Rose, an Olympic Gold medal winner in 2016 and also a US Open champion in 2013, also sees the Link Hong Kong Open as an opportunity to end the season on a high – with a first victory of the season.

He said: “An event like this, you never know where you spark your confidence. And of course, where you come back and you have good feelings and memories, absolutely. I hadn’t won this year and it is always nice to chalk one off. It would be nice to chalk off a win, to say, okay, I wasn’t struck out this year. I managed to get one done. So yes, it is a last chance for that, and then to take that momentum into next year, absolutely. Because the Ryder Cup is still a big, big focus.”