The best single round anybody had at the Bethpage Ryder Cup last September came during the Saturday afternoon four-ball session, when Justin Rose gained a frankly absurd 5.84 strokes on the other 15 players on the course. The bulk of that came from his putting (+4.86 strokes), and a brief look at the hole-by-hole details tells an even wilder story, starting with a 10-foot birdie putt on the first. Before it was over, the Englishman representing Europe for the seventh time would make putts of six feet, eight feet, seven feet, 21 feet, 16 feet, 15 feet and six feet again. Everything that was remotely makeable went in, like clockwork, and in the process he and Tommy Fleetwood swept aside two of the world’s best players and America’s last hope, the team of Scottie Scheffler and Bryson DeChambeau, almost like they weren’t even there.
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“Watching Justin Rose on the golf course is some of my proudest few hours on the golf course,” Fleetwood said after the match. “Absolutely amazing. What a golfer, what a human being.”
It’s easy to dismiss that round as one man having an anomalously great day, but when taken in the context of his past year, it might actually be the most emblematic moment of them all. What Rose has done in the past 19 months, rising from 67th in the world to third, would be nothing short of incredible for anyone, but for him to do it at age 45 feels like a miracle. But it’s a miracle that has been performed rather quietly, considering the onslaught of huge stories in golf over the past year and change. Even after his blowout seven-shot win yesterday at the Farmers Insurance Open, there’s an argument to be made that we’re not appreciating enough just what he’s doing.
Go back to 2022, and it seemed like Rose’s story had been written. After rising to world No.1 for five short stints in 2018 and early 2019, he had faded fast, and by early 2023 he was down to 84th. A win at Pebble Beach that year gave him a bump, but in the aftermath, it seemed to be a brief Indian summer preceding the true winter of his career. He was the right age for a decline, and it wouldn’t have tarnished his legacy – he had his major, he had his world No.1 ranking, and he had his tremendous Ryder Cup record (his putt on 17 against Phil Mickelson in Sunday singles at Medinah in 2012 is arguably one of Europe’s five greatest moments ever). His name was secure in golf history. In fact, he seemed to be the perfect demographic for a jump to LIV Golf, which reportedly offered him $US60 million to do just that.
Why not, then, follow his European mates and take the bag, if you will? As Rose said in his victory press conference from Torrey Pines, his ambition had not yet run dry.
“It would have been easy to potentially do other things, but none of that excited me,” he said. “And none of it gave me access to what I wanted to achieve. So I kind of always felt like my childhood self wouldn’t feel very good about making that decision and kind of giving up on those dreams.”
How then has he done it, how has he managed to play arguably the best golf of his career at an age that doesn’t lend itself to such success? Part of it was a coaching change. He brought Mark Blackburn on board in late 2022, replacing his long-time coach Sean Foley. Blackburn fixed some inconsistencies in his swing while reducing stress on Rose’s injured back. A year later, he brought his former caddie, Mark “Fooch” Fulcher, back onto the bag and recommitted himself to a fitness regime that is supplemented by a mobile gym he takes with him while travelling on PGA Tour. Results didn’t come immediately, but he was on the way to defying Father Time.
His first half of 2024 was uneven (generously), but something clicked that July at Royal Troon. He couldn’t quite catch a red-hot Xander Schauffele, who was turning in one of the great back nines on a major Sunday this century, but his T-2 finish was a springboard. Two top-10s in 2024 led him to last April’s Masters, where he almost interrupted the year’s most emotional story when he forced his way into a playoff with Rory McIlroy after a clutch birdie putt on 18. Rose didn’t win, but his class afterwards was another high point in his renaissance, albeit this time from a character standpoint. Somehow, he channelled what had to be a crushing disappointment into a show of true appreciation for McIlroy’s career Grand Slam.
Rose lost to Rory McIlroy in a playoff last April at the Masters, but picked up fans for the way he handled himself in defeat. [Photo: Harry How]
Rose’s veteran presence at the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage helped Europe pull off the surprising away win. [Photo: Harry How]
If there’s a knock on Rose, it’s that he might be the greatest player to have ever won just one major, which isn’t quite as bad as the best to have won zero, but still comes with a baked-in judgement. He knows as well as anyone else that there aren’t many chances left, and to come so close at both Troon and Augusta in back-to-back majors must have been agonising. One more major would certainly lock down a spot in the World Golf Hall of Fame, one many think he already has coming in the future. Still, he rose to the historical occasion as McIlroy celebrated, and fans noticed what Fleetwood would make explicit five months later: What a human being.
He couldn’t win any of the other majors last year either, but soon after The Open, he won the FedEx St Jude to crack the top 10 in the world ranking again and secured two points for Luke Donald at Bethpage. He’s continued a concerted effort to pick up swing speed, helping him be as long off the tee as at any point previously in his career. In turn, it took almost no time at all to win in 2026, increasing his career PGA Tour victory mark to 13.
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What’s next? At this point, to put the exclamation mark on the story, you’d want Rose to win a major. He wants it too, and he’s not afraid to say so.
“Majors is where I have my attention, for sure,” he said in victory. “I’ve achieved a lot in the game, but I’ve achieved a lot of it just once… The dream of winning all four was obviously the ultimate goal since I’ve been a kid. but it seems a long way off to think that way, but if you think about some of the results I’ve had in the past year or 18 months, I’m not that far away, so may as well keep believing.”
The concept of a career slam feels wildly far-fetched, but that’s not exactly the point here. The point is that through intense work at a moment in his life when he didn’t have to – when he could have taken a hefty payout and coasted like several of his peers, and nobody would have blinked – he has earned the right to believe. He’s earned our belief, too, even as he’s remained a secondary character in the greater golf imagination throughout his remarkable second act. He’s swimming against the current of time, and we know that the current always wins in the end, but the rest of us are catching on to what Rose has known for some time: this is not the end.