{"id":526566,"date":"2026-04-12T08:51:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T08:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/526566\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T08:51:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T08:51:19","slug":"justin-rose-has-gotten-used-to-being-the-bridesmaid-at-augusta-hes-not-letting-that-heartache-stop-him","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/526566\/","title":{"rendered":"Justin Rose has gotten used to being the bridesmaid at Augusta. He\u2019s not letting that heartache stop him"},"content":{"rendered":"

Augusta, Georgia\u00a0\u2014\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

\n At the Masters this week, a thought stuck in the minds of the patrons: Surely, it\u2019s Justin time.\n <\/p>\n

\n On a golf course where every hole is named after a flower, only one player bears the name of one, and none has been as close to full bloom at Augusta National as often as England\u2019s Justin Rose.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve lived this before,\u201d Rose said of his 2025 playoff defeat to Rory McIlroy, recalling a surreal sense of d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu as he stood on the 18th green with a queasy ringside seat to an historic triumph, knowing that the roles could so easily have been reversed.\n <\/p>\n

\n It was his second playoff defeat and his third runner-up finish at the Masters. He\u2019s been close enough to taste it, close enough to feel his hand sliding into the sleeve of the iconic green jacket.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI could see what it felt like,\u201d he explained. \u201cI can see the celebrations. It all played out right in front of me. So, I kind of lived it as if I\u2019d have won it, but obviously without any of the real positive emotion that goes with that.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Thanks to a quirk of Masters tradition, Rose\u2019s name has been engraved onto the trophy three times as the runner-up, but he\u2019s never held it. It\u2019s a sequence of results that ranks him among the greats: Only Rose and Ben Hogan have lost multiple playoffs at Augusta without ever winning the tournament.\n <\/p>\n

\n He has led or co-led the tournament after a round 11 times throughout his career, behind only Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player, who won 13 green jackets between them.\n <\/p>\n

\n At the age of 45, Rose is playing in his 21st Masters, and after playing two rounds this week, he told CNN Sports that he isn\u2019t feeling his age.\n <\/p>\n

\"Rose<\/p>\n

\n \u201cI feel the same, which is good,\u201d he said from a podium just outside the clubhouse. \u201cIf I can feel the same, I\u2019m doing a lot of other good things because I\u2019m not feeling older. I feel in good form, I feel in good spirits.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Nobody has had to play more than 19 tournaments before finally winning it, and Rose is approaching the age of the tournament\u2019s oldest champion, 46-year-old Nicklaus. But he\u2019s never given up, and this year he\u2019s back in the conversation again with Friday\u2019s three-under par round of 69 for a 5-under par tournament score.\n <\/p>\n

\n Rose has a resum\u00e9 to be proud of \u2013 a US Open title, an Olympic gold medal, he\u2019s topped the world rankings and helped the European team to five Ryder Cup wins. But he told the media at Augusta this week that he\u2019s always taken a philosophical approach to the game, and it has clearly helped him navigate some of his biggest professional disappointments.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI kind of realized that you can\u2019t skip through a career without a little bit of heartache and heartbreak. No chance,\u201d he said. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to be willing to win them, you\u2019ve got to be willing to kind of be on the wrong side of it as well. The key is showing up. The point is you\u2019ve got to put yourself there. That\u2019s the hard part.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n It\u2019s 28 years now since Rose flirted with victory as a 17-year-old amateur at the Open Championship in 1998 and his longevity since has been remarkable. In February, he destroyed the field by seven strokes to win the Farmers Insurance Open, and he\u2019s finished second in two of his last five major tournaments.\n <\/p>\n

\n A key to his success is the lens through which he regards the ones that got away. Instead of forming scar tissue, he says there is only a kind of positive muscle memory.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI hope it only boosts my belief that I can go ahead and do it,\u201d he said, \u201cI feel like I\u2019ve pretty much done what it takes to win, I just haven\u2019t walked over the line. I won\u2019t ever think, \u2018Why me?\u2019\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019m very aware that I\u2019ve been close here. I\u2019m very aware that I\u2019ve had tough, tough losses here. I also am aware that I enjoy this place. I come here with a good attitude; it\u2019s a place I enjoy being. It\u2019s a very enjoyable and comfortable place to be. I don\u2019t feel like it owes me anything.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n One might think that a man who\u2019s tried so many times to win the Masters would have developed an obsession with it by now, but Rose knows that could be the path to destruction at Augusta.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019d say I\u2019m firmly in the desire camp,\u201d he mused, \u201cbecause I know (obsession) is not going to help me. It\u2019s probably a professional discipline just to keep it in the desire realm.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Rose\u2019s friend McIlroy was the one who pipped him to the green jacket last year. If the first two rounds are any indication, Rose\u2019s moment might need to wait another year.\n <\/p>\n

\n Another blistering round from McIlroy<\/a> later on Friday afternoon means that Rose finds himself seven strokes behind the leader at the halfway stage. No matter how well he plays at the weekend, second place might be the best that he can hope for, again.\n <\/p>\n

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