The Challenge of the Third Green
The climb to the third green at Augusta National is notoriously steep, and for Justin Rose, it’s a challenge that has become increasingly apparent with each passing year. As he navigated his practice round on Monday ahead of his 21st Masters, the difficulty of the course was evident in his ever-shortening strides. It was a grueling effort, so much so that his playing partner Chris Gotterup, 19 years younger, overtook him up the hill. This moment served as a reminder for one spectator in the gallery to offer some encouragement: “Come on Justin, nearly there, bud.”
Nearly there. It’s quite fitting for this nearest of nearly men—a golfer who has found himself in the runner-up spot three times in the past 11 years at Augusta, twice through the unique agony of play-offs.
Rose will turn 46 in July, and his back creaks and needs icing every day. Yet, the wonder of his career is that we don’t talk about ticking clocks, diminishing returns, or rolled cars on suburban streets. Instead, we speak in astonishment of a career that seemed dead a few seasons ago, only for a resurrection that has repeatedly brought him close to a second major title, more than a decade after the first.
Ranked ninth in the world, no one else in the top 10 was born within nine years of him. When he won on the PGA Tour two months ago, no one in an elite field got within seven strokes either.
But can he finally get it done at the Masters?
We used to ask that question about Rory McIlroy, but with his win over Rose on the 73rd hole here in 2025, the question has passed to the guy he beat. And who wouldn’t want to see that happen? Who could watch the grace with which he embraced McIlroy in defeat and not will him to go one better?
For the man himself, there is no disguising the depth of his ambition in these parts. His longing for what he previously described as one of those “full-circle moments” and his conviction from recent visits that it is possible.
“I feel like I’ve pretty much done what it takes to win, but I just haven’t walked over the line,” he told us on Monday evening. “I feel like I’ve executed well enough to have done the job. From that point of view, I don’t feel like I have to find something different. I truly believe that.”
In the next breath, he added something subtly relevant: “I don’t feel like Augusta owes me anything. I come here with a good attitude.”
Golf is nothing if not an exercise in psychological control—accepting bad swings and reframing focus towards the next shot. Rose’s superpower, above anything else, has been in that area, same as Scottie Scheffler. It doesn’t always make for bombastic quotes, but as a trick of the mind, it does add up to good scoring.
And yet, it would be a mistake to downplay the fire driving him. Hemingway favoured marlin fishing for his study of human infatuations, but The Old Man and the Tee would be a reasonable working title for the story of Rose’s hunt for a green jacket. Except he deliberately avoids seeing it as an obsession.
“I’d say firmly in the desire camp, just because I know that the latter (an obsession) is not going to help me,” he said. “It’s probably professional discipline just to keep it in the desire realm. It probably wouldn’t be fruitful to go down the other path.”
And he’d probably be right. But it was no less telling how he corrected a subsequent observation about his name appearing twice on various honours boards on-site, owing to his play-off defeats in 2017 and 2025.
“I actually think it’s on the main trophy in the clubhouse three times. When I finished second to Jordan Spieth in 2015, it’s on there, I believe.”
From there, a mask slipped slightly when he said he can still feel “mad” about the third round last year. Loose putts in that round have evidently survived his filtration process.
But here he is again, ranked by no less an authority than Butch Harmon as the third favourite. Augusta always favours experience, and Rose has a tonne of it. Most of it very good. It would be a story for the ages if it comes to pass.
