Justin Rose admits he must learn to deal with the weight of expectation on his shoulders at this year's Masters.

The English star comes into the year's first major after a stellar season on the European Tour and having finished joint fifth at last year's tournament at Augusta.

He came to the Masters nursing a back injury last year and only bogeys on the 71st and 72nd holes cost him a shot at the title.

But he has still finished no worse than 12th in each of the four majors and now knows what it takes to contend at Augusta. 

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"It's always a pleasure to be back here, especially after last year being my best-ever finish here at Augusta," Rose said. "I've been excited to get back here for the last few months for sure.

"I think the experiences I've had here at Augusta have been powerful. I've had good experiences and bad experiences and you learn from both, and that's the key.

"Last year I felt very comfortable in the hunt all week, really, from day one, I was on the leaderboard, and I felt comfortable with that situation and position and, enjoyed it.

"Certainly I think the biggest thing about winning a major is believing you can, and last year was key for me in terms of making that step up, really.

"Last year, I was strangely relaxed because I had no expectations, no pressure. I was coming off six weeks off and I had no idea how the week was going to pan out. I guess that's what actually played in my favour last year, and this year, obviously I come in maybe expecting to do better and I guess that's the thing I've got to manage is my expectations and how relaxed I feel and how much pressure I put on myself."

The player, who shot to prominence as a 17-year-old amateur at the British Open in 1998, tees off alongside Sweden's Henrik Stenson and Japan's Toru Taniguchi in the first two rounds from Thursday.

If Tiger Woods wins the 2008 US Masters by five or more shots, Paddy Power will refund all losing outright bets placed before the start of the tournament. 
 
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