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So the US-based Englishman retreated to the house he had rented for that week. It overlooked the ninth green and that's where he headed.

As Bubba Watson tearfully celebrated his play-off victory, Rose was on that green, already working on a couple of tips passed on after his putting meltdown had opened up the tournament to Watson and Co.

One week on and it was . He confirmed himself as the form player of the moment, combining a largely brilliant putting display with yet more superb ball-striking to provide his second win in three starts.

He triumphed at the in Pennsylvania by parring the last seven holes for a one-stroke victory. Given what had happened seven days earlier this was a triumph of nerve. On this latest back nine, he saw a five-stroke advantage eroded to the narrowest of margins.

By holding on for his second PGA Tour win, Rose confirmed that he remains a player with the fortitude to continue to make career advances after taking the proverbial two steps back.

Twas ever thus with Rose, from the moment he , turned pro and promptly missed 21 consecutive cuts.

This is a player who has won the European Tour Order of Merit mainly through weight of results in majors and WGC events in 2007 and finished 81st in the same money list just one year on.

When we commentate on majors for 5 live we invariably receive texts asking how Justin Rose has fared. Often we have to tell the listener he hadn't played that week; ineligible, not good enough to be with the elite.

Since finishing fourth in that 1998 Open, Rose has missed 19 of the 47 majors that have been played. In that period he has also had superbly successful spells, good enough to make him Europe's number one and a Ryder Cup player.

But there has always been a constant quest for improvement and that has, on occasion, led to loss of form and worrying slumps when this normally affable and approachable player has become far removed from his accepted image.

Earlier this year he was at a particularly low ebb when he failed to make it to the Masters. There was little sign of the cyclical nature of his career taking its upward turn as he languished only just inside the world's top 100.

In the meantime he was being eclipsed by the surge of UK players. His old mucker Ian Poulter, who had never been regarded as being nearly as talented had become the and had beaten Rose to a first title Stateside.

So had Paul Casey and Rory McIlroy and so the Orlando-based Rose was being completely overshadowed.

But his game was coming back and better than before. At 29 years old he was finding a new level of maturity.

"In the past I've worried about where I fit in," he admitted after this latest win, "how I stack up, what people think, where do they rate me, do they or don't they and I've got to tell you I'm less worried about that now. It's great to be and probably climbing back into the .

"Sure, that's all nice, but right now that's not what's driving me. It's how good can I get at this game and that's a personal challenge," he added.

Naturally the next move, as it is for most of his contemporaries, is to step up in the majors and match the deeds of Northern Ireland's .

Rose is now assured of his place at . Five years ago he suffered the agony of being first alternate and waiting all day on the Thursday in the vain hope that someone would go lame before stepping on the most famous first tee in golf. No one did and he also missed the 2000 Open there.

This is where he had won the prestigious St Andrews Links Trophy as a 16-year-old, clinching a place in the 1997 Walker Cup team. It's where he has been runner-up in the
Alfred Dunhill Links Championship. He likes the Old Course.

Rose has flown overnight from the United States to this week's star-studded JP McManus pro-am. Then he'll head to St Andrews to spend the rest of the week working out his strategy for the 150th anniversary Open, while other of his rivals compete in the at Loch Lomond.

It appears a wise move. Who will be truly ready for the demands of a major after two days of pro-am in Ireland, another in Scotland on Wednesday and then four days of competition on a layout bearing no relation to a links course?

Rose doesn't care about the others though. For him it's all about harnessing his current self-belief for his quest to land the Claret Jug.

"I think winning on the PGA Tour is a stepping stone to winning major championships," he said.

"This is the progression I would have expected. I established myself in Europe and then it took me a while over here, but then I established myself by winning PGA Tour events. Then to the next level, which would be the major championships."

For someone who a little over a month ago had only distant hopes of being in the St Andrews field it is a remarkable switch in fortune. But it's been achieved through endeavour and talent and Rose rightly stands alongside the other home hopes for the next major of the year.

This period is turning into an astonishing time for UK golf. How appropriate it would be for that to be confirmed at the home of the game next week and in Rose and McDowell we have two candidates who could not be blessed with more confidence.

What is more, it has been well and truly earned.