WORLD number seven Justin Rose quipped he was looking to take a fresh approach at Fanling this year as he leads the line-up of stars gathered for the US$2 million UBS Hong Kong Open.

    Rose, in a press conference for big-draw players Tuesday, was asked how he might attack the course differently this time around after failing to make the cut at his last appearance in 2011.

    “From the fairway,” quipped the Englishman. “It’s probably a little bit more of a thinking man’s golf course than not and maybe I was just caught a little bit unprepared last time and didn’t get to know the course well enough.

    “My caddy is out there walking the course and doing the grunt work. He’ll have a good game plan laid out for us then it’s just a matter of getting out and executing it.”

    The 35-year-old Rose went to Hong Kong fresh from a tied-for-sixth finish at the Frys.com Open in California over the weekend and said he had been up early Tuesday after a 13-hour flight from the United States as he took a look at how the Hong Kong Golf Club was shaping up this year.

    “I have some revenge to try and seek at this golf,” said Rose, winner of the US Open in 2013. “Last time it got the better of me so I am looking forward to spending a longer week on the golf course.”

    Rose was presented to the press alongside American world number eight Dustin Johnson, his compatriot and world number 20 Patrick Reed, 2010 US Open winner Graeme McDowell, of Northern Ireland, rising Chinese star Li Haotong and last year’s Hong Kong Open winner Scott Hend, of Australia, as the Open week’s activities were formally launched.

    The 42-year-old Hend arrives in hot form following his three-stroke victory at the Venetian Macao Open at the weekend.

    Reed, at 25 years old one of the game’s young guns, is another making his first appearance here.  (SD-Agencies)