Justin Rose, of England, and Australia’’s Aaron Baddeley have each earned £1000 charity donations to The Golf Foundation by winning the Asprey & Garrard Golfer of the Month Awards for January and February respectively.
The two 20 year olds enjoyed outstanding starts to the 2001 season with Rose finishing runner-up in successive weeks on The European Tour and Baddeley capturing the Greg Norman Holden International in Sydney on his Tour debut.
Rose, runner-up in the Alfred Dunhill Championship in Johannesburg and in the Mercedes-Benz South African Open at East London, said: “This is fantastic news. It means an awful lot to me to be voted the Asprey & Garrard Golfer of the Month. It is nice to have something to put on the mantelpiece to remind me of those two fantastic weeks in South Africa.
“At the start of the year I removed all my amateur trophies from the cabinet and put them in the attic as I thought it was time for me to look forward and attempt to win some professional silverware rather than look back at my amateur achievements.
“I did have some difficult times but I never lost belief in myself. My game started to come back last July and I knew it was simply a case of getting an element of consistency back, and I have managed to achieve that this season.”
The Asprey & Garrard Award is presented to a European Tour Member each month from January to November for their performances on The European Tour and in worldwide competition. At the end of the season, the Panel will select the Asprey & Garrard Golfer of the Year which, in 2000, was Volvo Order of Merit winner, Lee Westwood.
Rose, who achieved international fame as a 17 year old when he finished tied fourth in the Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, was the unanimous selection of the Asprey & Garrard panel, which met at Wentworth Club.
The Panel commended the young Englishman for the manner in which he handled adversity after turning professional – including 21 consecutive missed cuts – and his unfailing courtesy in his dealings with the Media.
In Johannesburg, the city of his birth, Rose was within one shot of forcing a play-off with fellow 20 year old Adam Scott after shooting rounds of 66-67-66-69 for a 20 under par total of 268. One week later in East London, he fired scores of 72-69-68-72 for a seven under par aggregate of 281 and missed out by one shot again when Mark McNulty holed a 20 foot putt on the last green.
Two weeks later Baddeley confirmed the arrival of the ‘young guns’’ when he beat Spain’’s Sergio Garcia in a play-off at The Lakes Golf Club in Sydney. The 19 year old from Melbourne won with a birdie two at the first extra hole after the pair had tied on a 21 under par total of 271.
