Justin Rose’s renaissance began by choice but secrecy made it possible
Justin Rose had a choice.
What he did led him to where he sat Sunday at the winner’s press conference at Torrey Pines after his impressive win at the Farmers Insurance Open. It was his second win in six starts, the 13th of his PGA Tour career and moved him back to No. 3 in the Official World Golf Rankings. He’s 45, and, if you ask his caddy, Mark Fulcher, this is the best he’s ever played. Rose would tell you he can’t put together new tricks, but his ball speed has increased, his playmaking is among the best in the world and, most importantly, Justin Rose still has dreams. And a deep desire to make those dreams come true.
It was those dreams that drove his decision in 2022. This one led him here to a renaissance in the mid-40s that has become golf’s best story.
By 2022, Rose’s game had sunk. World No. 1 earlier had fallen into the 60s on OWGR and LIV came calling. The Saudi-backed rebel league has been gathering names and starting over. It was paying for the success of the past, hopefully the names of the big winners will drive the first interest. When Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and others said yes, Justin Rose said no. It was fitting that, during the week Brooks Koepka returned to the PGA Tour after a three-year tour with LIV, Rose continued to confirm his decision with a romp that saw him break the 72-hole record set by Tiger Woods.
Rose was able to do that because she wanted more. He was able to do it everything because he wanted more.
“My career goals have always been attainable only by staying on the European Tour and the PGA TOUR because reaching them is not, you know, impossible any other way,” Rose said Sunday of his decision to turn down LIV and its negative consequences.
“But obviously I want to play among the best players in the world. That obviously for me is the kind of thing that keeps me motivated, that keeps me hungry, that keeps me pushing. So yes, it would have been easy to do other things, but none of that made me happy, I don’t really think. And nobody gave me access to what I wanted to achieve in terms of making my child feel good. The decision and kind of giving up on those dreams.”
Justin Rose’s dreams were not for sale. And his climb back to the top — what he calls his “Indian Summer” — in pursuit of those childhood dreams is perhaps a different story than it first appeared.
There is nothing better in sports than an old man refusing to let Father Time steal his gifts. There is nothing more charming than an Old Lion who does not want the sun to go down or the shadows to cover him.
But there’s a difference between a final game, like Jimmy Connors’ run to the semifinals of the 1991 US Open or Phil Mickelson’s 2021 PGA Championship victory, and the sustained, high-level play of someone who should have passed them. Those great ones who do not want to believe that the best has come, are motivated by the hope that it is yet to come. Those who beat back the sands of the hourglass with the one thing that allowed them to reach this point.
They all have it, the big ones. It’s in their DNA: self-belief wrapped in an unparalleled work ethic, topped off with a passion for their craft.
At the Patriots Hall of Fame induction, Tom Brady described the greatest career in NFL history in simple terms.
“To be successful at anything, the truth is, you don’t have to be special,” said Brady, wearing a red sport coat. “You have to be what most people are not: Consistent, determined and willing to work for you.”
Tennis great Roger Federer changed that at Dartmouth: “Discipline is also a talent. So is patience. Confidence is a gift. Embracing the process, loving the process, is a talent.”
“I didn’t get where I got by pure talent alone. I got there by trying to outdo my competitors… I believed in myself. But believing in yourself has to be earned.”
LeBron James said: “Any way you can be good at what you love to do, you have to commit to it. You can’t want something but not put it into work.”
There was Justin Rose on Sunday’s 18th green at Torrey Pines, who just ran away from the field. He jokingly apologized to Woods for breaking his score. Then he offered a glimpse of the same secret – seeing him send two runner-up finishes in his first five majors and making him believe he could stop the sun from setting, hoping the horizon held what he’d been looking for. You just need to reach for it.
“I still love it,” Rose told CBS’s Amanda Balionis. “I’m still working hard. Obviously, you have to love working hard. I still believe there’s something really good ahead of me.”
