ESPN Golf

LEMONT, Ill. -- For all the conjecture and consternation over these four season-ending FedEx Cup playoff events that you'd think are leaving players gasping for air as they near the finish line, it could be worse.

What if you had to play more golf?

Justin Rose is a young guy who can handle the grind, if you can even call playing golf such a thing. But the fact remains that the 2007 golf season does not end for him after next week's Tour Championship in Atlanta -- as it will for many of the players chirping about the jam-packed schedule to end the season.

Rose, who missed some time earlier this year due to a back injury, is just warming up.

"Yeah, I've got quite the schedule coming up," said Rose, who shot 69 on Friday at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club to trail Aaron Baddeley and Jonathan Byrd by one stroke through two rounds of the BMW Championship. "I'm playing four in a row, take one week off, and then head to Europe and play four in a row."

As a member of the European Tour as well as the PGA Tour, Rose has plenty more to do after he completes his duties on this side of the pond. The Englishman has competed in just seven tournaments that count on the European schedule, with just two in Britain.

That means he's got to play at least four more times (11 is the minimum) to retain his European Tour membership for 2008.

And players here are complaining?

Rose certainly wasn't doing that Friday after putting himself in contention at the third FedEx Cup playoff event. And this has started to become a regular occurrence.

A victory last November at the Australian Masters was followed by some fine play this year, including a tie for fifth at the Masters, a playoff loss at the BMW PGA Championship in England -- the European Tour's biggest event outside of the majors -- a tie for 10th at the U.S. Open and a tie for second at the Bridgestone Invitational. Rose missed the cut at last week's Deutsche Bank Championship, his first since October of last year. He has six top-10s this year on the PGA Tour.

Rose was one of just seven players this year to make the cut in all four major championships, and his aggregate total was the best of the bunch, save for one Tiger Woods.

"Next year, it's just more of the same," Rose said. "I'm not trying to re-invent the wheel; I just need to find that extra 1 percent. My biggest improvement has been my mental approach. My goals were to make all four cuts [in the majors], have two top-10s and one chance to win. And I had that chance at Augusta."

Rose was just a shot out of the lead heading to the 71st hole at the Masters, then proceeded to make a double bogey that doomed his chances. It was soon after that disappointment that Rose's coach, Nick Bradley, declared that his pupil "had the potential" to surpass the major championship total of England's greatest golfer, Nick Faldo.

Since Faldo won six, and since Rose has yet to even win a single tournament on the PGA Tour ... well, the statement was met with some disdain. Not that Faldo himself doesn't see the potential.

"He's got tremendous mettle," Faldo said. "There's no give-in on this guy. He gets knocked down and he comes back again."

Rose, of course, famously went 21 straight cuts without making a 36-hole cut upon turning pro at age 17 in 1998. That came after finishing fourth as an amateur at the British Open. He also lost his father, Ken, to cancer in 2002.

"It has toughened me up," he said. "Made me appreciative of the good times."

Two years later, Rose, who lives in Orlando, joined the PGA Tour full time and has never finished worse than 62nd on the money list, earning more than $6 million.

There is that matter, however, of never winning a PGA Tour event. Rose has given himself an opportunity here. And he'll have another next week in Atlanta, where he is set to play in his first Tour Championship. Rose is 23rd in the FedEx Cup standings and the top 30 qualify.

Here, Rose is tied with three-time tournament winner Woods and Steve Stricker, who won the first playoff event, the Barclays, and is second to Phil Mickelson in the points standings. He will be paired with Stricker on Saturday.

"The final piece of the jigsaw is to actually get across the finish line first," he said. "This isn't a chance yet. It's a decent start. A chance is one ahead with three to play on Sunday. This is just solid golf, and I've been doing that a lot this year. I need to keep doing what I'm doing and put myself up there again on Sunday."

Bob Harig is a frequent contributor to ESPN.com. He can be reached at BobHarig@gmail.com.