Guys,

Did y’all see what just happened??

Justin Rose just wiped the floor at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines. His -23 beat the previous tournament record shared by Tiger Woods (1999) and George Burns (1987). He beat the next closest guys by a whole 7 strokes.

His -17 after 36 holes would have been good for the win. HE DIDN’T EVEN NEED TO PLAY THE WEEKEND.

Mr. Rose, if I may… Many might say that you are very good at the game of golf for your age. I reckon there’s no need for that snide little addition. Age irrelevant, you’re officially ranked #3 in the world — your best since 2019.

Where did you go from 2020-2023? I’m not sure. No one is quite sure. Also, where were you the first 10 years of your career? I don’t understand. Aren’t you supposed to do all this winning when you’re just a wee lad?? You’re a confusing case, Mr. Rose.

But a case of class, you’ve always been. Allow me to share with the world a little J.Rose timeline.

Side note: I’ll be dropping a youtube video on him in due time, check it out.

As an amateur in 1998, Rose showed face for the first time on the big stage, and he finished T-4 IN HIS FIRST EVER PGA TOUR EVENT AT THE OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP. He turned pro the very next day (as he should’ve… well maybe not).

What followed was unfortunately a few years of silence on the PGA Tour. By 2002, he started to string together a few high finishes, cementing his place on the Tour, but still no big break.

He had won on the European Tour, but it wasn’t until 2010 that Justin Rose captured his elusive first PGA Tour win, and he captured two of ‘em that year. Then he won an event every year until 2016 — a good six years in a row that Rose found himself with some new hardware.

These were the years Rose was at his best. These were the years we thought we’d seen the best that Rose could ever be! Were we mistaken? Could he be better now?

In the 2017-2018 season, Rose won twice, was runner-up three times, 3rd place once, made 17/18 cuts, finishing with 15 Top 25s, 11 Top 10s, 8 Top 5s.

Sorry for all those numbers, I know that’s hard to read sometimes. 2 1s, 3 2s, 1 3, 15 25s, 11 10s, 8 5s blah blah blah.

Basically, the guy was always in the mix at the end, and usually near the top. He won the FedEx Cup title, due in part to his two runner-up finishes and 4th place finish in the playoff events to cap off the year.

2019 wasn’t as special, but he won the Farmers Insurance Open (for the first time) and snuck into ten top 10s.

Rose climbed to #1 in the world during this stretch, and today, he’s as close as he’s ever been to the top spot.

After his win this weekend, Justin Rose is officially ranked #3 in the world. Now, I should clarify — while he’s only two positions back from #1, he’s unfortunately not close at all to capturing the #1 spot.

It would take the sport’s greatest individual season ever to climb high enough to surpass Scottie Scheffler. He’s so far ahead of Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose, I’m really not sure what it would take to pass him.

BUT THIS ISN’T ABOUT SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER, THIS IS ABOUT JUSTIN ROSE.

2025-2026 has me thinking we’re seeing Justin Rose at his very best. Here’s what’s happened in the last year:

If he can make cuts the way he did in 2017-2018, Justin Rose will look back on this year as his very best year in golf.

Rose was on this weekend, but it’s not like he caught a bunch of lucky breaks. He just played his game. He’s a great ball striker and an incredible putter. He thinks he could work on his wedge game, sure. He’s still driving the ball ~310 yards on average at age 45, just ahead of Ryo Hisatsune, who is… by the way… 23 YEARS OLD.

The “old man” still has it, and he has it big time.

To conclude, I’ll leave you with a couple quotes — one from Rose’s Caddy, Mark Fulcher (“Fooch”), one from Rose himself.

Fooch told CBS broadcaster Trevor Immelman, “In all the years I’ve been caddying for Justin, I think he’s a better player now than he ever has been in his career.”

Amanda Balionis asked Rose if his best golf is still ahead of him, and Rose said a lot about wanting to spend more time with his family across the pond, but he also finished his answer with, “Why not?”

Fine wine Justin Rose.

Be sure to tune into my YouTube channel for the Justin Rose recap coming soon.

Cheers,

Luke Mangan
On Golf