The most satisfying Masters winner is the one no one talks about
AUGUSTA, Ga. — The wait was painful for Justin Rose.
As he stood over his chip shot from the back side of the 4th green at the Masters Saturday, you could feel Rose’s discomfort. He was six under for the tournament, six shots back of Rory McIlroy, and time to charge a moving day was growing short. He started his day with two pars and a birdie, not a bad score, but arguably lost one shot to the field on the birdie-able second hole. Now, on the 4th, he had ironed again good, and I was staring at a short-sided chip down a lightning-fast slope and everything would be lost.
But then, finally, it was his turn to play, so he stepped up to his shot, took a deep breath, and started running.
It didn’t look like much at first, a small, rolling bump that shot down and quickly into the hardpan and down a big hump behind the fourth green, but then it tracked … and Rose tracked it, too, walking a few steps out to the left as she followed it down toward the hole. And then Rose couldn’t help it – just as her ball threatened the hole, she spooked herself, running forward as her ball landed in the hole of the tap.
As strange as it seemed, it was an important moment for the golfer who no one was talking about at the event he wanted more than anything. Rose has spent her entire life as one of the great actors of the theater, relying heavily on her instincts to create dramatic performances even in the most difficult moments of her professional life. Now, at the Masters, those plays have fueled him in successive years until Sunday afternoon, when he will begin just three shots from the lead.
“You enjoy what’s done here from Monday to Wednesday, and I don’t think you’ve enjoyed another round of golf all week,” said Rose, in Rosian fashion, on Saturday evening. “There’s a lot of risk and a lot of reward in every shot that hits here.”
Yes, Rose looked like he was enjoying himself on Saturday, the same day he recorded four birdies to move up the leaderboard and within striking distance of the white whale of his career. He also looked like he was enjoying it last year, on the second Sunday in April 2025, when he went ballistic, recording pars on his last eight holes (six birdies and two bogeys) to take part in a playoff against the retreating Rory McIlroy.
The truth is, Rose has it always he seems to have enjoyed it at Augusta National, where theatrics have been tolerated, if not encouraged. The only thing he didn’t enjoy was losing, which came in unusually painful form over and over again during his Masters career – a legacy that currently reads like one of the most productive players in the history of the tournament … but no wins. It is this problem, these miracles, and this history that makes Rose the obvious choice to succeed McIlroy as the winner of the green jacket in 2026 – if we choose winners based on the quality of their winning story, anyway – even if there is something about Rose that leads to his being overlooked.
Yes, last year, McIlroy was responsible for the biggest decline. We quickly forgot the little miracle that Rose pulled off to force a playoff with McIlroy because we were surprised by the picture of McIlroy on the floor after winning the career slam grand prize.
But maybe it shouldn’t have been.
Rose has been one of the best players in the world in the four years since the so-called “Indian Summer” – a streak that has taken his game into his 40s and included wins at Torrey Pines and the Ryder Cup. He was also one of the best players in the world at the Masters, setting a record Seven the top 10 finishers and runners-up in three decades competing in the event.
On Saturday evening, Rose still looked like a man with his Masters dreams very much alive, especially after he walked up the 18th fairway with his usual swagger, greeted the crowd with his usual histrionics, and set off for Saturday’s bogey-free final round. this The Masters Sunday is still being hunted.
“I mean, after Saturday I was really stressed last year. I felt like I really gave the Masters and any chance I had to win that day,” Rose said. “Turning a 69 into a 75 is how I felt. I started the day seven back. Yeah, you know you can shoot 61. You know you can shoot, but 7 back is a long way off.”
On Sunday, the same opportunity will present itself to Rose, who no doubt knows how he feels. At 45, he will become the second-oldest winner of the event, behind only Nicklaus in ’86. That’s a lot of experience, to be sure, but Nicklaus was a marvel at age 46, and he had already won five blue jackets.
“People have been pulling my ears this week,” said Rose. “Obviously I have to go on tomorrow, that would be great to play in that place.”
Really, it would be fun. And it will probably be show-stopping theater.
It’s always Justin Rose’s, even when no one is watching.
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