SAN DIEGO, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Britain's Justin Rose
was proud of how he battled through a stomach bug for the first
two rounds of the Farmers Insurance Open after coming close to
withdrawing on the eve of the tournament.
The 31-year-old, who was put on an intravenous drip before
the start of the opening round, fired a four-under-par 68 on
Friday to climb up the leaderboard into a tie for 30th at
five-under 139.
"I am happy with where I am at for my first tournament of
the year," Englishman Rose told Reuters after mixing five
birdies with a lone bogey on a breezy day of sunshine at Torrey
Pines.
"This bug forced me to be patient, it forced me not to get
too far ahead of myself and it forced me to do a lot of good
things mentally that will set a good foundation for the rest of
the year.
"I feel like I have accepted the good and the bad out there
pretty well this week and that's a good formula for the rest of
the year."
World number 16 Rose, who won his third PGA Tour title
during last year's FedExCup playoffs at the elite BMW
Championship, conceded he had very nearly pulled out of this
week's event before the opening round.
He first felt sick on Wednesday afternoon, lost a lot of
fluid that night and called a doctor first thing on Thursday
morning.
"I really thought I was going to have to withdraw," Rose
said. "I couldn't walk around my first tournament of the year
throwing up all the way around.
"But luckily that stopped in the early hours of the morning
and then I just tried to get myself as refreshed as I could to
tee off at 10."
BATTLING ROUND
After having two litres of fluid pumped into him
intravenously, Rose went on to card a one-under-par 71 on the
tricky South Course in the first round but it was a battle for
him all day.
"My legs went around the turn but we battled but my caddie
was great. There was enough food in the bag for us to go to the
North Pole," he smiled. We were fully kitted out for every
eventuality.
"So we managed to survive. And today wasn't much better, to
be honest with you. I went back to my room for a couple of hours
after the round but I feel a bit better now."
Rose, speaking just before he began to hit a few practice
chips and putts on a glorious evening at Torrey Pines, said the
uncertainty of the stomach bug was his biggest concern going
into the weekend.
"It's just the unnerving nature of not knowing what your
body's going to do," he added. "I am hoping if the body settles
down, I won't feel too bad.
"I've got all my strength, which is a good thing. If I can
just get a bit more confidence in the stomach, I will be in good
shape."
(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in San Diego; Editing by
Patrick Johnston)
