Rose confident of Masters tilt

Two-time runner-up Justin Rose feels he has the skill set to give himself a chance of claiming a first Masters title this week.

Justin Rose says he has never been in better form ahead of the Masters but will start the first major of the year with "low expectation" of donning the green jacket.

The world number five came agonisingly close to winning at Augusta last year, losing to Sergio Garcia in a play-off.

Rose was also a runner-up in 2015 and it is five years since the Englishman claimed his only major title at the U.S. Open.

The Olympic champion made a trip to Augusta for some practice rounds after finishing third in the Arnold Palmer Invitational last month, revealing he was keen to revive some of the memories of 12 months ago before arriving in Georgia this week.

Rose has a victory and four top-10 finishes to his name this season and feels he is good shape to mount another challenge.

Asked how he feels about being one of the favourites, Rose said: "I've got two thoughts on that really: one is that the golf course doesn't recognise what happened last year, there is not a blade of grass that is here that was here last year - it's kind of an analogy that I'm going with a little bit.

"And I'm kind of coming into it with high confidence, but also low expectation in the sense that I can't control so many variables that are out there this week. But again, my skill set should produce a chance to win if all goes well.

"I'm kind of going in with, I need to execute well this week to have a chance. There is no point in talking, it's just about having a good game plan and whether I can execute it all well.

"That is where my mindset is, not worrying about the other players or other variables, but I'm coming in as good as I've ever played."

Rose hopes his early visit to the course where he came so close to being crowned champion last year will be beneficial later in the week.

"You always tend to learn a thing or two and I think for me, last year after losing in the play-off, it was just important to come and walk the grounds," he added.

"Clearly, you're going to go through memories and shots you hit, shots that didn't come off et cetera. I just wanted to have that walk before tournament week."