Great Britain’s Catriona Matthew and Charley Hull have described how they have been inspired by Justin Rose’s Olympic gold medal winning performance.
Rose added the Olympic crown to his 2013 US Open title after a prolonged and exciting battle down the stretch with Sweden’s Henrik Stenson in front of a sell-out crowd of 12,000 at Reserva de Marapendi Golf Course in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday.
Now Matthew, who watched Rose win the gold medal, wants to continue the Team GB success story. She said: “Hopefully we can do the same as him.”
Matthew, the 2011 Ricoh Women’s British Open champion, added: “He obviously played well all week, and you know, to have such a tight finish with him and Henrik was great for golf.”
Although Hull did not see Rose’s performance as she was flying in to Rio, she said: “I thought it was really cool. It’s definitely really inspiring and I think it’s cool that he’s got a gold medal.”
Both are staying in the Athlete’s Village and Matthew, who has her husband Graeme on caddie duties, has been inspired by watching a number of GB medal winners. She continued: “I’ve been to the athletics and the tennis. Apart from Justin, we saw Murray win and Mo Farah, so we’ve seen some good things. Now we’re concentrating more on golf. Obviously I would say I’ve got a good chance. I played well at Woburn, so in good form. You’ve got to go in with high hopes.”
Describing her game as “pretty decent,” Hull said she might try to catch some boxing later in the week but is also now focused on the women’s golf competition, which starts at 7.30am local time tomorrow.
