Justin Rose is undoubtedly enjoying one of the best moments of his career. The world number one has been winning tournaments all over the world for ten consecutive years, in Europe, Asia and America, and at the end of January, by winning the Farmers Insurance Open, he became the third European player since World War II to win ten or more on the US PGA Tour, following in the footsteps of Sergio Garcia and Rory McIlroy.
The European player is taken for granted in his case, although the truth is that Rose was born in South Africa (Johannesburg), although very soon, when he was 5 years old, his family emigrated and settled in England, where little Rose began to play golf seriously in a club near his home in Hampshire. Seriously because when he was only eleven months old he was already hitting balls in the garden of his South African home with a plastic club that his father had bought him. His golfing prowess was evident as he grew older: at 11 he shot his first round under 70 and at 14 he had a +1 handicap.
At the age of 17 he was already an outlier, and his name was catapulted into the world media spotlight when at that age he came fourth – tied with Fred Couples – in the 1998 British Open, won by Seve Ballesteros, winning the Silver Medal as best amateur. The following year he turned professional.
His beginnings in the European Tour were not as fruitful as he wished, and in the 44 tournaments he played in 1999 and 2000 he did not achieve any top 10. The good results would start to come the following year: two second places and four top 10s, and in 2002 he would start to make his dreams come true, by achieving no less than four victories: Dunhill Championship and British Masters in Europe, Nashau Masters in South Africa and Chunichi Crowns in Japan), and seven top 10s, closing the season ninth in the ranking of the Old Continent.
In 2003, Rose began to combine the European Tour with the American, highlighting his fifth place in the US Open. He repeated the following year the alternation of circuits, and in 2005 he opted exclusively for the U.S., where he won three top 10. The following year he continued playing in Uncle Sam’s land and in other latitudes and won his fifth title, the Australian Masters.
In 2007 he returned to the European Tour, where he won the Volvo Masters at Valderrama and the Australian Masters and finished second in three tournaments, totaling nine to 10, so it is not surprising that he crowned the season as number one in the European Tour ranking.
His next victory was not until 2010, when he won the Memorial Tournament of the US PGA Tour. From then on, fortunately for him, he would win at least one tournament every year. On the American Tour he triumphed in the 2011 BMW Championship, the 2012 World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship, the 2013 US Open (his first and so far only major), the 2014 Quicken Loans National, the 2015 Zurich Classic of New Orleans, the 2018 World Golf Championships-HSBC Championships and Fort Worth Invitational and this year’s Farmers Insurance Open. And his other international victories included the 2014 Scottish Open, the 2015 UBS Hong Kong Open, the 2016 Olympic Games, the 2017 Indonesian Masters and the 2017 and 2018 Turkish Airlines Open.
Very close to the Green Jacket
His incursions in the Grand Slam after his successful debut as an amateur in the 1998 British Open and already with the status of professional, have so far ended with the aforementioned victory in the 2013 US Open, when he beat Phil Mickelson and Jason Day, having been left with the honey of victory on the lips, that is, second, on two occasions: in the 2015 Augusta Masters, won by Jordan Spieth, and in 2017, when Sergio Garcia beat him on the first playoff hole. In the US PGA Championship his best finish has been third, in 2012, and in the British Open his most brilliant performance so far has been a fourth place, in the now distant 1998.
Rose, winner of the FedExCup last season, in which he was crowned for the first time number one in the world ranking, is on the crest of the wave and enjoying one of the best moments of his sporting life. At 38 springs and debuting in the year with new brand of clubs (Honma), Rose continues the good trail he starred in 2018 and until his triumph at the end of January at the Farmers Insurante Open accumulated thirteen top 10 in his last appearances on the US PGA Tour, including three top 3. Thanks to the 8.1 million dollars he earned last year (not counting the ten million that his triumph in the FedExCup brought him) and the 1.2 he pocketed for his January triumph, the English player has crossed the barrier of 50 million dollars in earnings on the US Tour.
Gold medal
In addition to the dozen victories on the US PGA Tour (the first in 2010), there are a dozen victories in other latitudes and circuits, including the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, when golf returned as an Olympic sport after a very long break of 112 years, since 1904. Rose won the gold medal by beating Sweden’s former world number one Henrik Stenson by two strokes. Justin wrote another chapter in the history of the sport when, in the opening round, he holed the first hole-in-one of the Olympic Games (173 meters with a 7-iron).
Rose, after having been alternating five consecutive weeks at the top of the world ranking with Brooks Koepka since last November, managed to get away from the American at the beginning of January to consolidate his lead. In any case, he cannot rest on his laurels because there are rivals as dangerous as Koepka himself, Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas aspiring to snatch the world crown.
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In short
– When golf isn’t absorbing his body and mind, Rose devotes his time to his wife, former international gymnast Kate Phillips – with whom he created a charitable foundation to help children from low-income families in Orlando – and their two children, Leo, 9, and Charlotte, 6.
– Rose’s hobbies include tennis, soccer, cars, architecture and watching movies, among others, and she lives in the Bahamas and has homes in Great Britain and Florida. His favorite soccer team is Chelsea.
– His journey through the European Circuit before joining the The U.S. economy had its ups and downs. At On the negative side, he was forced to go through the Qualifying School twice; on the positive side, he was number one in the 2007 season.
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