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Westwood, Luke Donald, Ian Poulter and Paul Casey had all barged inside the world's top 10. Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy is there, too, while countryman Graeme McDowell became the US Open champion. Golf in the UK was looking rosy - and without Rose.

You'll remember, of course,and then went on to miss his first 21 consecutive cuts as a professional. But he was learning his trade and climbed to European number one in 2007. Several fallow years followed, a mixture of injury and struggling to find the keys.

He then defied a mid-round blip to par the last seven holes and hold off a charging Ryan Moore to triumph by one at the AT&T National in Pennsylvania at the start of this month. He's now up to 16th in the world.

So what's occurred?

"Last year I put in a lot of really good technical ground work and I've got down to the point with my swing where I'm just playing, I'm not constantly tinkering or changing things, that's a nice place to play from," he told me in St Andrews.

"The shift has been slightly mental, too. I'm not adding anything in but getting rid of anything else that's not important. Dropping all the baggage that's associated with professional golf.

"The rest of it - leaderboards, money, TV, people - that's inclined to get in the way.

Rose will hope to have his name on the leaderboard on Sunday afternoon. Photo: Getty

"It's just getting down to the bare basics of me, my golf clubs, my new Ghost putter, my golf ball and being clear and committed on my shots and accepting really.

"No-one's perfect out there. If you make a mistake, don't beat yourself up about it. You are going to make mistakes. Let it go."

Rose, with his tall, athletic frame folded into a leather sofa, is a good talker. He considers the question, and delivers an in-depth answer, illustrating and emphasising his points with hand gestures and rubs of the head.

"Do you know what I mean by that?" is a classic Rose-ism - he's keen to make sure the point has been properly conveyed and understood.

There's lots of a talk of getting rid of baggage - tell-tale signs of a man with a new mind coach.

So who is he, I ask? Rose tells me he has been working with mental guru since just after the PGA Championship at Wentworth in May. Valiante's trademark, by the way, is "Fearless Golf".

"It was the right time for me. He's just nudged me over the top, helped me get momentum and confidence," admits Rose.

Sandwiched between Rose's two victories was a win that got away after he squandered a three-shot lead going into the final day of the Travelers Championship

Rather than cursing the missed opportunity, Rose used it as a springboard.

"My goal was to put in place what I had learned. I was getting tight and quick and out of rhythm. Gio recognised it and the next week I was more relaxed and let it flow. It makes it an easy place to play golf from if you're not scared of losing. Maybe the biggest lesson I've learned is about failure and not being scared of it. If you're learning the right things, you're not losing, you're winning.

"Memorial was fantastic elation but I got more self-satisfaction from the second win because of the way I did it and what I had to overcome the week before."

After Memorial, Rose had a chat with No hints from the old master on how to play the Old Course (Rose hadn't qualified then), but he allowed the Englishman a glimpse into the mindset that won 18 major titles, including two at St Andrews.

"Jack told me he always felt winning became habit, that he never got bored of winning," said Rose.

"It's that mentality of never resting on his laurels, to keep pressing on but not go out and try to win but keep doing what made you win. That's the real key. You can't focus on the end result. Keep doing the processes. That's what he never got bored of and why he was so fantastic.

"In '07 I was more focused on results. Right now I'm not really loving the glory, that's the cherry on top. I'm enjoying the ingredients of making it happen.

"At Memorial I could have played another nine holes, even though I had won. I was enjoying playing."

As well as Nicklaus, Rose has been tapping up for advice of late, and was supposed to practice with the six-time major winner at St Andrews last week before a change of schedules.

After missing the Open at St Andrews in 2000 and 2005, a bunt around the Old Course with a former champion would have been no bad thing, but Rose has won here as an amateur in the St Andrews Links Trophy. And anyway, he reckons the course can change so much from week to week, even day to day, with different weather conditions that the strategy is constantly changing.

So as the form player coming into the Open, I wonder if Rose sees himself as one of the favourites?

"I guess so, I guess so," he nodded. "But with all due respect, that's your guys' job. Like I said about the whole baggage stuff. It doesn't matter to me. That's not going to help me on Thursday morning. All that will help me is a clear game plan and good execution."

Of course, Thursday will present more potential baggage than a pre-cheap flights airline - first appearance in Europe since his misdemeanours will ensure that.

"You've got to recognise it's there and you can't deny it's a different atmosphere but it's not the first time. I've played six Open rounds with him," said Rose.

"St Andrews is really different because the crowds are only on the outside perimeter of the golf course so there's a feeling of space. From that perspective it might even be a bit easier here.

"Playing with him at the Masters first time back would have been a big deal and a bit weird but I think it's past that now.

"I've seen him around at a few events and said hello to him. I've always got on well with Tiger, even though we're not close friends.

"But Tiger is always great to play with. He's out there doing his own thing, as are you, but if you hit a good shot he'll complement you and if you strike up a conversation he'll reply and ask a question or two. You know, he's polite."

Rose says he loves St Andrews as a place, and reckons that's half the battle. The other half is getting to grips with a quirky course that can be benign one day, vicious the next in the wrong conditions.

"The ultimate competitor this week is the golf course, not anybody else," he said. "How can you get around this golf course, accept the challenge, not be bullied by it, and go around in as few shots as you can. That's tournament golf right there in a nutshell. Everything else is baggage.

"Do you know where I'm going with all that?"

Loud and clear, Justin.