JUSTIN ROSE made sure of his place in all of next season's golfing majors with his top-20 finish in the Volvo Masters.

The 22-year-old from Fleet in Hampshire was far from happy with his eight-over-par last round of 79 in Spain last week which relegated him from fourth place in the third round to tied 18th in the final standings.

But most important, it kept him in the top ten in the final European Order of Merit table which means that in 2003 he can add the US Masters and the US Open Championship to the major championships he has already contested.

Finishing in the top ten (he ended up ninth) wasn't as straight forward as it first appeared for Rose. He

went into the Volvo Masters eighth in the money list but through the course of events at Valderrama it became clear that Angel Cabrera (leader for the first three days), Anders Hansen and Adam Scott posed a threat to the Hampshire player.

As it happened Scott moved above him but Cabrera's loss of the lead meant he finished just behind Rose who admitted that keeping the ball straight off the tee on a treacherously narrow and hazardous Valderrama cost him a bucketful of shots on the last day.

All credit to the four-times winner this year, he had hung on with the leaders for three days when conditions were at their most difficult with strong winds combined with slick and fiery greens and fairways sending scores soaring.

For three days at Valderrama Rose certainly played some of his best golf for several months, certainly since the devastating loss of his father in September.

Ken Rose was such a big influence in his son's glittering career that there's a feeling he'll take a time to get back to where he was over the first half of the 2002 season when he won his four tournaments, the Alfred Dunhill Championship and the Victor Chandlers British Masters on the European Tour, the Nashua Masters on the South African Sunshine Tour and the Crown Masters in Japan where he shot a career best round of 63.

Whenever he had a problem with his game, Rose could instantly turn to his dad for advice. His coach David Leadbetter is far off in Florida but with the player again grappling with his driving, a priority through the small winter break will be a get-together with Leadbetter to get in shape for next season.

For Rose, who finished a pleasing fourth in the Mitsui Masters in Japan, at the weekend, the current campaign still has two events to run, another in Japan this week

(the big Dunlop Phoenix tournament) and in Mexico on December 12-15 when he pairs up with Nick Faldo to represent England in the WGC EMC World Cup at Puerta Vallarta.