Justin Rose felt his experience of winning on difficult courses stood him in good stead as he put himself firmly in contention at the 2023 US PGA Championship.
Rose won the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion in which no player finished under par and bagged a top-ten finish at the same event in 2018 at a Shinnecock Hills course to which this week's Oak Hill Country Club layout has frequently been compared, while he won the 2007 Volvo Masters at Valderrama after finishing in a three-way tie at one under.
"It definitely is my MO, I suppose," Rose said after a round of 69 which meant he has finished par or better every day this week.
"I've definitely won on tough golf courses historically, I just think I manage my game a bit better.
"I kind of know what's required and maybe stay a little bit more patient and understand the test that is required to play these courses well."
After a bogey at the second, where he sent his tee-shot into the left rough, Rose responded with a superb approach inside six feet to set up birdie at the par-five fourth.
Successive long birdie putts at the seventh and eighth saw him turn in 33 and he picked up another shot at the 11th, staying in the top five despite bogeys at the 13th and the difficult 17th.
"What we had in rain today, we lost in wind, so it didn't feel like the course played any harder," he said.
"There was a moment actually where the rain stopped and it sort of coincided with me playing a little bit better around the turn, holes eight, nine, ten, 11, 12, started to feel like I was really getting on the front foot."
Rose will play alongside World Number Two Scottie Scheffler in the third-last group on Sunday, having at one point risen as high as a share of second place.
"I know I got right up there near the top end of the leaderboard, and yeah, that was good," he said.
