Justin Rose has known Rory McIlroy for a long time.
The 44-year-old Englishman turned back the clock this weekend at Augusta National, and his blistering Sunday charge up the 2025 Masters leaderboard put him in between McIlroy, the green jacket, and the career Grand Slam. Rose started the day seven off McIlroy’s lead, but the combination of nervy stumbles from the Northern Irishman and six back-nine birdies saw Rose and McIlroy head to a sudden-death playoff with everything on the line.
Both players striped their tee shots on the first playoff hole, No. 18, and Rose stuck his approach shot to 15 feet. McIlroy answered by stuffing his to four feet, putting the pressure on Rose to roll in another medium-range putt. Rose’s putt rolled toward the hole and looked good halfway there, but it eventually missed low and drifted past the hole.
That left the stage to McIlroy, who rolled the four-foot birdie attempt into the cup to finally become a Masters champion. McIlroy threw his putter in the air and fell to his knees as the emotions flooded out of him. Once McIlroy got to his feet, he hugged Rose, and the Englishman, who has now lost the Masters in a sudden-death playoff twice, offered a message to his friend.
“I just said, listen, this is a historic moment in golf, isn’t it, someone who achieves the career Grand Slam,” Rose told CBS’ Amanda Balionis after the defeat. “I just said it was pretty cool to be able to share that moment with him. Obviously, I wanted to be the bad guy today, but still, it’s a momentous occasion for the game of golf.”
Rose opened the 2025 Masters with a sizzling seven-under 65. He held the 36-hole lead before falling back Saturday.
But Rose emptied the tank to try and catch McIlroy on Sunday. He made 10 birdies and four bogeys to shoot 66 and push McIlroy to the brink. That included a 20-foot putt for birdie on the 72nd hole to post 11 under and put the pressure on McIlroy coming down the stretch.
After finishing runner-up at the 2024 Open Championship and this week at the Masters, Rose leaves Augusta National believing his next major victory is on the horizon.
“But listen, to make the putt on 18, the one you dream about as a kid, to obviously give myself an opportunity and a chance was an unbelievable feeling,” Rose said. “Obviously, I’ve been in this position before, 2017. It’s definitely tough, but I bounced back pretty well from that, too. Went on to be World No. 1 after that, so I used it to my advantage.
“Last two majors I’ve played, I’ve come up in second place, but it’s exactly what I’m trying to do with my career at this stage, and it’s more evidence that I’m doing some really good work.”
Rose has seen McIlroy battle through a decade-plus long major championship drought. He understands McIlroy’s place in the game’s history and knows that Rory McIlroy, Masters champion, is a title fitting an all-time talent. Rose has been one of golf’s great ambassadors for over two decades. The journey he has been on over the past five years — from losing his game to rejecting LIV Golf and choosing to rediscover his old form — is the type of admirable “dig it out of the dirt” attitude that professional golf was built on.
