Come July, it will be a decade since Justin Rose turned professional, and the principle lesson he has learned in that time is to be prepared.

Take his return to Royal Birkdale for this season's Open Championship. It was on the Lancashire links in 1988 that Rose, then a 17-year-old amateur, chipped in at the last to finish a fairy-tale fourth behind veteran American Mark O'Meara.

He has not been back to Birkdale since that memorable tournament and, having blossomed to become European No1 and a fixture in the world's top 10, Rose knows he will be the centre of attention this summer.

"That week is going to have to be managed carefully because everybody is going to want a piece of the story," he said. "I'll visit the venue before tournament week because I think it's important for me to have a little bit of reminiscing time, and obviously you can't do that in the championship."

The same kind of pre-planning is the foundation on which Rose will mount his challenge in this week's US Masters.

He was at Augusta National last week, while the place was still a verdant haven of peace and quiet, "just to get the 'wow' factor out of my system".

This will be Rose's fourth Masters - he has twice led after 36 holes - but he admitted: "It is still a course that you can get in awe of. Augusta is such an inspirational venue. You turn through the gates, go up Magnolia Drive and it just gets the juices flowing. It's like heaven on earth for a golfer."

On Thursday, however, Rose knows he cannot afford to admire the scenery because Tiger Woods will be the man to beat. In 2007, Rose's record of four top-12 finishes in the majors was beaten for consistency only by Woods. And if the American superstar's commitment to hard work and homework was the difference between the two men, then Rose has learned his lesson.

"I need to get fitter," he said. "But it's hard graft in the gym. I hate it, and that's part of the problem. Tiger loves it, he can't get enough of it. I've got to get like that."

Adopting Woods's meticulous approach has come easier than pumping iron. A couple of practice rounds at Augusta got Rose reacquainted with the short game shots that are vital at the course.

He said: "You have to be able to chip the ball very well off tight lies. So after my practice at Augusta I went back to Lake Nona in Florida and tried to recreate and perfect some of the shots I'm going to face this week.

"I also wanted to work on trying to draw the ball. There are so many holes at Augusta where you need to hit a pronounced draw in order to have a go at the greens in two."

This kind of practice almost made perfect last April. Just one shot off the lead with two holes to play, Rose was close to becoming the first British winner of the Masters since Nick Faldo in 1996.

Two birdies and it would have been Rose's name on the trophy rather than that of Zach Johnson. But a double-bogey and a par left him in a tie for fifth.

It is typical of the type of golfer Rose has become that he could only take positives from an experience that might have left some other rivals devastated.

He said: "Until you actually are there with a chance to win on Sunday, you don't quite know how you're going to react. I actually surprised myself at how much I was able to enjoy the moment, how calm I felt and how confident I felt and how much belief I had.

"I think only when you're really in that moment do you actually find out what you're made of."