TROON, Scotland – An hour too late, a putt finally dropped. Justin Rose watched it disappear into the cup, then he removed his cap and looked to the crowd that was rising to its feet in the grandstands lining the 18th green at Royal Troon.
The competitor in Rose, in that moment, thought about all he’d earned at this 152nd Open Championship.
The much-needed points. The second-place money. The high finish that will help set up his 2025 schedule.
But then he took a few steps and, as a soon-to-be 44-year-old, was walloped by the emotion of it all. How thrilled he was to be back in the arena again. How gutted he was to give everything he had and still come up short. And how proud he was to be this deep into his career and still care this damn much.
Caddie Mark Fulcher was still misty-eyed as he lugged the bag toward the exit.
“It just proved to us,” Fulcher said, “that there really isn’t a team like us, and that’s very special.”
Once Rory McIlroy ejected early, once Bob MacIntyre scrambled to make the cut, once Shane Lowry faded from the halfway lead – yeah, these hearty fans at Royal Troon were backing Rose. Twenty-six years after he splashed onto their screens as a 17-year-old amateur, here he was, in another claret-colored jumper, still battling for that elusive claret jug. Walking up each hole, they implored him to push on, to hang tight against Xander Schauffele, to finish strong, even against the outside forces and impulses that can feel so overwhelming.
Rose turns 44 next week, an aging warrior in a game that is increasingly dependent on youth, speed and strength. No one would have been surprised if, a few years ago, Rose followed contemporaries Sergio Garcia and Henrik Stenson and Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter. If he’d exchanged his sterling career credentials for a bag to join LIV Golf. If he’d surveyed the evolving landscape, seen how many cocksure 20-somethings were arriving in full force and simply checked out.
Except that’s not what Rose has done. If anything, he has reinvested in himself.
He has assembled an entire team around him to help maximize his gifts. He has rebuilt his battered body with the help of trainers and physiotherapists. He has gone another direction with his swing, tabbing last year’s teacher of the year, Mark Blackburn. And he has reunited with Fulcher, whose steady hand helped guide Rose to the 2013 U.S. Open title, the world No. 1 ranking and hero status on the European Ryder Cup team.
“I still think some of his best golf is ahead of him,” Blackburn said.
Blackburn began working with Rose last year, tasked with the reinvention of a player who had reached the pinnacle of the sport but never sustained it. For just 13 weeks Rose held the top spot; then he changed his equipment and suffered through back issues and lost his way. Two years after becoming No. 1, he was struggling to stay inside the top 100.
Life intervened, too. Rose has two teenage children, and he has admirably tried to juggle being a full-time father and 30-week-a-year professional golfer. The family doesn’t travel as much with him anymore. There’s more demands on his time.
“I have a feeling we’re going to come through the other side where in the not-too-distant future, it’s going to be easier where the kids don’t want to know you anymore,” Rose said with a smile. “I’m coming to a good stage of my career again.”
But he’s not there yet, and this season has been particularly challenging as Rose felt, for one of the few times in his career, like a non-factor. He has missed nearly as many cuts as he has made. Admired for his consistency and longevity, for how he thrived on the toughest tracks, he has posted just a single top-25. Once lauded for his technical proficiency, he was losing strokes to the field with his ball-striking. For the first time in more than a decade, he had to worry about elevated events and rankings and major-championship qualification. Expectations were recalibrated.
Still, Blackburn found reason for optimism, trying to inspire Rose to realize there was a higher level to access.
“He’s a great student, and while biologically he might be in his 40s, he takes care of himself like he’s in his 30s,” Blackburn said. “He has had a lot of success, and we’ve been looking at the things he used to do from a movement pattern standpoint – how and where he’s been successful, where his body is now, and then holding him accountable. He’s very creative and tends to go down a rabbit hole, and I tend to be pretty good at being direct and saying this is what you need to do, this is how you’ve had success. Just showing him that the pattern he’s got can be consistent and powerful, it works for him, and he just needs to be him. You don’t get to No. 1 in the world by not being incredible.”
There were recent signs of improvement. Two months ago at the PGA Championship, at rain-soaked Valhalla that was a bomber’s paradise, Rose entered the weekend three shots back and tied for sixth, his best result of the season. Not yet exempt for the year’s final major, Rose swallowed his pride, signed up for final qualifying and humbly shared medalist honors to earn his spot in The Open. He arrived at Troon with a renewed hunger and appreciation for his favorite event of the year, even if that love was tested earlier in the week when Rose continually found himself on the worse end of the draw. Playing in the early-late wave that ultimately was about 2 ½ shots more difficult, Rose carded a rare bogey-free opening round and then signed for a 68 on Friday when the scoring average, at the time, was eight shots higher. His misfortune only continued Saturday, when he slogged through the wind, cold and rain late in the third round. He survived his last 13 holes in just 1 over par to play his way into the third-to-last pairing.
“He played against all of the draws this week,” Fulcher said.
And yet, one shot off the 54-hole lead, it still represented Rose’s best chance to win a major in three years. He embraced the historical stakes: How he’d be the oldest Open champion in nearly 60 years. How he’d set the record for the longest span between major-championship victories (4,053 days).
He knew the opportunity was precious, and he wanted to play fearlessly. Make committed swings. Run putts past the hole.
“That’s the deal I made with myself today,” Rose said. “To come off with no regrets.”
Two quick birdies Sunday showed he was game. A birdie on the Postage Stamp hole, punctuated with an emphatic fist pump, gave him a share of the lead. But the wind died down midway through the final round, as forecasted, and it only heightened the need for perfect play. Rose finally blinked in the 12th fairway, missing right and failing to get up-and-down. It was his lone bogey during an otherwise tidy 67.
But against today’s top players, so unafraid and unmerciful and unflinching, that hiccup was all it took. Schauffele seized the opportunity, ripping off four birdies in a six-hole span during what he called the best round of his life. He shot 65 and won by two, his second major in two months stamping him as a player for the ages.
“Gutted when I walked off the course,” Rose said, “and it hit me hard because I was so strong out there today. I really played the way I wanted to. How I played and the execution of my emotions today, my mindset, I left it all out there. I’m super proud of how I competed.”
Rose’s quiet devastation immediately reminded of Phil Mickelson right here at Troon back in 2016, when he lost the thrilling duel to Henrik Stenson. It was a humbling experience, Mickelson conceded later, for it was the first and only time in his career that he played his best and it still wasn’t enough. Mickelson was 46 at the time, unsure how many more legitimate chances he’d have to win a major. He didn’t post another major top-10 again for five more years until, out of nowhere, he romped to the history-making PGA title in 2021. He has just one top-40 since.
Rose is realistic and yet still raging against time and trends and the thinking that his competitive days are dwindling. He’s convinced there’s more Ryder Cups to play, more majors to chase. As fit as ever, he’s determined to become another Mickelson or Steve Stricker or Vijay Singh, even as the median age for greatness skews younger still.
“I’ve put a lot of time and effort and resources into my health and wellness,” Rose said, “and hopefully I can stretch that out. I’m still hungry for it. And this increases that hunger, yeah.”
Added Fulcher: “He sets targets for himself and wants to buck the trend of the way things are going, and I think you’ll find that he’s still got his very best golf to play.
“Deep down, I know he’s as good a golfer as I’ll ever work for. He’s one of the best golfers in his generation. He can win any event he turns up at, and I think he’s going to prove that in the young-40s you can still compete at the highest level, just because he’s the ultimate partner, the ultimate competitor, the ultimate professional. I think the challenge is one we both embrace.”
As Schauffele hung back in the players’ lounge, waiting to officially be crowned the Champion Golfer of the Year, Rose was saluted for his valiant effort by his wife, his management team, his physios, his coaches, his peers. He was a week shy of his 44th birthday, they marveled, and yet he pushed the game’s second-best player to the brink. They were hurting and happy for him, in equal measure.
Indeed, while Rose did a half-dozen interviews, there was a hushed sense of optimism within his team. Not just for the short term – he is now secure for the playoffs, at No. 51 in points – but also for 2025. With his runner-up finish, he secured at least two major exemptions.
“I’m looking for those big-stage moments,” Rose said, “and today was nearly it.”
Another set of chances awaits next year. No more qualifying, no more wondering. Tick-tock – it’s time to get back to work.