Cape Town - Jake Roos spent most of his last tournament trying to protect his position, so he’s looking forward to reverting to type and being aggressive in this week’s R1.5-million Lion of Africa Cape Town Open.
Roos has just earned his European Tour card by finishing inside the Challenge Tour’s top 15, and his final 14th position meant he had to play it cool during the season-ending Dubai Festival City Challenge Tour Grand Final to make sure he stayed one of the lucky 15.
“It’s a difficult place to be in, because I’ve never been in the position where you have to protect yourself,” Roos told the sunshinetour.com.
“The mind-set was difficult to get over, because you have to play defensive golf and try for percentages. I’m glad it’s over and I can go for aggressive stuff and see what I can do.”
Roos was the winner of the inaugural Lion of Africa Cape Town Open in 2012 when he won a four-way play-off against Tyrone van Aswegen, Jaco van Zyl and Mark Williams, so he’s partial to the Royal Cape Golf Club where the tournament will be played starting on Thursday.
“I get good energy when I drive into this parking lot,” he said.
“There are good memories and I like the course, so I’d love to be in the thick of it on Sunday. It’s pretty tight and windy, which is perfect. The course needs a bit of wind and then it will be a good test.
“I only played a little bit of league golf here, but I know the course quite well, so I’m looking forward to it. You have to think a little bit and manage your game, and I really like these greens,” he added.
Once he gets onto the greens, he’s hopeful that his putting will get better. “I haven’t been putting too well and it’s a bit hot and cold of late. Putting is normally my strength, so I’m trying to get it a bit more consistent,” he said.
Being aggressive as Roos wants to be is a good approach for the tournament this week, with the final place in the lucrative Nedbank Golf Challenge up for grabs for the winner.
“Going to the Nedbank Golf Challenge would be huge! I’ll just try to get into contention… if it goes my way it would be brilliant,” added Roos.