DESPITE not having the best record at The Open, Justin Rose is sure that he possesses the game to succeed at St Andrews.

The north Hampshire golfer burst onto the scene at the 1998 Open at Royal Birkdale, finishing fourth as a 17-year-old amateur.

He’s gone on to have an excellent career, winning the US Open in 2013, but success at his home Open has so far eluded Rose.

He is yet to better his perform-ance at Birkdale, failing to make the top 10 and managing just two top-20 finishes in 12 appearances at the Open since, but the 34-year-old believes that there is no reason why he can’t challenge.

“I can play links golf,” he said in the build up to The Open, which gets under way today. “I won last year’s Scottish Open on the links at Royal Aberdeen. I’ve won here on the Old Course at St Andrews in both the amateur Links Trophy and the 2002 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

“My record in The Open doesn’t suggest I’ve come close, but in 2009 and 2002, I was closer than my finishing position indicates.”

Rose will get his Open challenge under way at 2.45pm, playing alongside Sir Nick Faldo and American star Rickie Fowler.

The trio will be hoping that the weather will not have too big an impact on their chances of winning.

Weather conditions were expected to benefit players heading out this morning, with the wind expected to get stronger as the day progresses.

Rose said: "The way it looks this week I may not have the best side of the draw. It's been like that for five or six years so I hope I get some lady luck. The draw is a funny thing.”

Conditions look set to stay the same throughout the course of day two, with Rose, Faldo and Fowler due to begin their second rounds at 9.44am.

Rose's build-up to the third major of the year did not go according to plan at the Scottish Open last week, the former Robert May's School pupil falling away in dramatic fashion over the final 27 holes to finish 74th.

Rose was in a tie for second at the halfway stage thanks to two rounds of 66 (-4) and he picked up a further shot during the first nine holes of his third round to move to -9.

However, he dropped three shots on the back nine to fall out of contention, six shots off the lead going into the final day.

Worse was to follow on Sunday, the Hook man dropping shots at the first two holes and making four bogeys in the space of five holes on the back nine to card a six-over-par round of 76, making him +9 for his last 27 holes.

He finished level par for the tournament, in 74th place and 12 strokes behind Fowler, who won the title, slipping a place to eighth in the world rankings as a result.

Rose had been hoping to defend the Scottish Open title he had won at Royal Aberdeen a year earlier, but he is happy with his form heading into The Open.

“I've gone into Major Championships in hot form and it's not worked out for me in the past," he said. "The result last week was unproductive, but I learned a lot about my game.”