BACK IN BLOOM

Justin Rose recently returned to the winners’ circle and is determined to flourish well into his 40s, as he tells Kit Alexander

- Kit Alexander

Justin Rose’s career looked like it was wilting. The Englishman had achieved great things – 25 wins including the US Open and Olympics, reaching World No.1 and five Ryder Cup appearances – but as we entered 2023, it had been four years since he last lifted a trophy, he’d slipped out of the top 80 in the world and he wasn’t really in the conversation for Marco Simone in September. Then everything turned around when he claimed his 11th PGA Tour victory at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in early February, emphatically marching to a three-shot victory in a Monday finish. Rose was flourishing again.

“It was relief,” the 42-year-old admits. “You think you can do it, and you pretty much know you can do it, but you’ve got to go and prove it – and that’s easier said than done. The field at Pebble wasn’t the strongest on the PGA Tour, but there were still a lot of good players and the golf course doesn’t know who the player is, so you’ve still got to hit the shots.

That’s what made the win very enjoyable for me. I could have won in many different ways, got the job done by one and felt great about everything. But the fact I felt fairly dominant and, in my mind, closed the door quite clinically, I took a lot out of that. That told me my game and psyche was still in place.”