Last month, Justin Rose sat at the podium ahead of the 2025 Open Championship at Royal Portrush and was asked to search for the meaning of his late-career resurgences and the near-misses at majors, notably the T2 at the 2024 Open and the playoff loss to Rory McIlroy at the 2025 Masters.
The 45-year-old took a minute to ponder the idea of weighing pride in resurrecting his game against the disappointment of not getting it over the line in what could be his last, best chances. For him, there was no question what those second-place finishes meant.
“It’s been a weird one because I don’t really feel like I had to get over it because I didn’t necessarily feel completely devastated by it either,” Rose said of his Masters loss that day at Royal Portrush. “Do you know what I mean? I felt like I played well. I felt like I could walk away with my head held high. So from that point of view, I didn’t really feel like there was much baggage or much to get over. … I’m ready to move on for sure because second is second place, isn’t it? It’s a tough loss. But at the same time, it’s still more evidence that when I get things right, I’m still competitive and can still bring it. That’s where I’m encouraged about, and I’ve got to make sure those moments like this week and going forward, I can try to be as focused as I can on the moment now.”
Rose has referred to this moment in his career, as the sun sets on a two-decade-plus professional career built on relentless competitive grit, as his Indian Summer. It’s a period after his game took a dip. That coincided with LIV Golf’s emergence and desire to secure as many past major champions as possible. Rose was on their list, but while his friends and European Ryder Cup teammates Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia, Paul Casey and Henrik Stenson all took the golden parachute to play on the breakaway league, Rose chose a different path. He chose to dig it out of the dirt, seeing the PGA Tour as his pathway into major championships should he get his game right.
Rose rebounded and won the 2023 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He put himself into contention at the 2024 PGA Championship and then rattled off those back-to-back runner-up finishes at Troon and Augusta National. The sun has indeed been shining brightly on Rose during his late-career renaissance. While a win had not yet materialized since Pebble, Rose’s message remained unchanged.
His best is still pretty damn good.
Justin Rose highlights from FedEx St. Jude
Rose arrived at this week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind, the first leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, looking to cement his spot in the top 30 to return to the Tour Championship for the first time since 2019. Rose opened with a blistering 64 and followed with rounds of 66 and 67 to enter Sunday one shot behind good friend Tommy Fleetwood.
Sunday was yet another opportunity for Rose to prove that his core belief — that even at 45, he can still contend with and beat the best in the world — is not a lie he tells himself on the range, but a truth that fills his drive and helps him break down barriers that only few have hurdled at his age in pro golf.
Rose got off to a scratchy start in Sunday’s final round, and when he arrived on the 14th hole, three shots behind Fleetwood in search of momentum. With the pin on the right side of the green and with water to the right, Rose made the bold choice to fire at the flag and try to jumpstart his round, hoping to ensure that Memphis would not fall in the near-miss category. Rose pulled six iron and stuck it to 15 feet. He rolled in the birdie and proceeded to birdie 15, 16 and 17, with the latter allowing him to overtake Fleetwood and tie J.J. Spaun, who posted 16 under. Rose parred 18 to set up a sudden-death playoff with Spaun.
“It’s a strange balance of patience because obviously if you try too hard in anything in life it doesn’t seem to happen, so you’ve still got to let it come to you,” Rose said of his finishing birdie barage in regulation. “But being committed, but I think being brave, trying to be brave, I think is what — especially on the 14th hole, I hit a hold 6-iron to that back right pin. That was a pretty clutch shot, I suppose, to sort of take that one on and to pull it off.”
Rose and Spaun both parred the first playoff hole and traded birdies on the second. After a new cup was cut on the 18th hole, the duo played it a third time. Spaun hit his approach to seven feet, and Rose responded by knocking his to 11 feet. Rose calmly stood over his birdie look, tucked his shirt into his armpit — sticking to a meticulous process has been key to his resurgence — and poured it into the heart, giving a small fist pump as Spaun set up to tie. The 2025 U.S. Open champion had been red-hot with the putter all Sunday, but his birdie attempt slid by the hole, and Justin Rose, at 45 years young, delivered a message he has long believed as his Indian Summer has gone on.
“I’ve always known I’ve had that,” Rose told NBC’s Damon Hack after the win. “I get nervous with the best of them. I feel nervous at times. But I know when it matters, I’ve still got it. I kind of feel better and better and better as it gets more important. That’s good to know. It’s hard stuff to practice, hard stuff to teach. Nice to know that it hasn’t left me at this ripe old age. Listen, I don’t want to keep saying that because I’m actually — I feel like I’m moving well, the body is feeling good, I’m training well. Yeah, I feel like there could be a good run of golf still. I can’t let the age kind of become too much of the story. Today is huge for me.”
After the win, the 12th of his PGA Tour career, Rose was naturally asked about his age, his game, how he has done and how long he can still do it. The 2013 U.S. Open champion, who has had the golf gods yank several more majors out of his hands, smiled and thought about the warmth of the season his career is currently enjoying. The frost has thawed, and the unseasonably warm temperatures show no signs of receding as Rose continues to beat back against the setting sun.
“I still feel like there is that golden summer of my career available to me,” Rose said. “That’s what I’ve been pushing for. Moments like getting close at Troon and then obviously getting close at Augusta they’re signals that it’s possible. This is another really, really, really important signal that I’m on the right track with my game, and actually, maybe even getting a little bit better at the moment. Will I ever be the best player that I was when I was maybe 2018 No. 1 in the world? I don’t know, but I don’t have to be, I don’t think, as long as I can find it at the key times.
“I’ve been able to do that. I’ve shown good signs, I think. But winning is winning. I think proving that to yourself, even though I’ve come close and I felt good in contention, getting over the line is still difficult, and obviously I’ve won, like, twice in six years now, but this one felt good. I felt like I had to hit the shots, I had to step up again and again and again in the playoff. I felt ready for it. I felt calm. I felt collected. I think that’s when you learn most about yourself. I feel excited about where I’m at at 45, and I feel like there’s a good bit of runway ahead.”
He has felt that for the better part of two years now. With a finishing flurry in Memphis, golf finally heard what Justin Rose has long believed.
