Mark Cannizzaro

Mark Cannizzaro

Sports

Rose, Donald burdened with pressure to win on home soil

HOYLAKE, England — When you’re playing the British Open and you happen to be British, it adds a bit of pressure to the proceedings.

As this week’s Open Championship at Royal Liverpool closes in on Thursday’s opening round, the differing plights and paths of two of Britain’s top players come into succinct focus with different pressures facing Justin Rose and Luke Donald.

Rose is the hottest player in the world, having won the last two tournaments he has played — the Quicken Loans National at Congressional three weeks ago and the Scottish Open last week at Royal Aberdeen. This kind of form has him installed as the bookmakers favorite to hoist the Claret Jug on Sunday.

Rose is also still riding the high from his U.S. Open triumph in 2013 at Merion, his first major championship win and a victory that provided him entrance into an exclusive club of major championship winners — a club that has not yet escorted Donald through the door.

Donald, who like Rose is from England, was at golf’s mountain top fewer than three years ago as the No. 1-ranked player in the world for 56 weeks. By comparison, Rose’s career looked like a fading speck in Donald’s rearview mirror.

At that time Rose wanted what Donald had.

“When you’re not winning it’s very hard to see yourself doing it,’’ Rose told The Post Tuesday. “It feels a long way off at times. For me, going back 10 years, wining major championship felt like it may never happen … or it felt miles away.

“I looked to what Luke did a lot and the way he went about his business and me and my caddie have taken tips on how Luke and his caddie have gone about their business.’’

Now, it’s the other way around: Donald wants what Rose has.

Rose is a major championship winner who has elevated himself to No. 2 in the world who, with a win this week, would break through to No. 1. And Donald, who has not won a tournament since 2012 and has seen his world ranking tumble to No. 20, is searching for what Rose has.

“Seeing Justin and Martin [Kaymer, who won the U.S. Open last month] win it gives you more hope,’’ Donald told The Post. “That guys you’ve been around and played quite a bit of golf with have done it, you see their games up close and you compare yourself and you think, ‘Yeah, if they can do it surely you can, too.’ ’’

Donald insisted he “enjoyed’’ his stay at No. 1, but it’s difficult to see how he could with so many critics taking shots at him — like players at a driving range drilling balls at the guy driving the caged-in ball retriever.

Rose signs autographs for fans as he plays his practice round on Tuesday.AP

“Yeah, the whole ‘No. 1, you’re not deserving because you haven’t won a major,’ got a bit old,’’ Donald said. “But I don’t know what to say other than I don’t make up the rankings. I just went out and played and worked hard and I got to No. 1. I did earn it. Everyone who gets to No. 1 earns it. It’s a mathematical system. It’s not done by opinion.’’

Rose said he “never bought into’’ the criticism of Donald’s ranking despite having not won a major.

“I always admired his level of consistency, and that’s what gets it done in the world rankings,’’ Rose said. “I think if Luke had gotten there for five weeks you could say, ‘Well … ’ But he was there for over a year, and that’s a year of playing high-class golf.’’

Still, watching his peers like Rose pass him by and win majors had to hurt, though Donald surely will not acknowledge it.

What Donald did acknowledge, though, is what spurred him to push harder and make the difficult decision to change from the swing coach who helped him get to No. 1 (Pat Goss) to one he hopes can help him win major championships (Chuck Cook).

The impetus for the change, Donald said, came when he played in the final Sunday group with Rose in the Merion U.S. Open.

“It came from seeing how in control of the golf ball he was under pressure on a Sunday in a major,’’ Donald said. “I just felt like I needed to be a little more consistent tee to green when it mattered, and I felt like if I didn’t make the change I would probably have regrets to the end of my career that I didn’t at least try something different. Hopefully it will lead to a little bit more consistency in my long game.’’

Maybe it will lead to Donald finally winning a major and losing the asterisk.