Justin Rose is 45 and No. 3 in the world of golf. He says he still has ‘gas in the tank’
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Justin Rose doesn’t pay attention to his age no matter how much he gets reminded.
His victory Sunday in the Farmers Insurance Open was historic on a couple of fronts. At age 45, he became the oldest winner of a tournament that dates to 1952. He became the first wire-to-wire winner at Torrey Pines in 71 years. He broke the 72-hole tournament record at 23-under 265, beating by one the mark held by Tiger Woods (1999) and George Burns (1987).
He also moved to No. 3 in the world, making him the second-oldest player behind Vijay Singh to be ranked that high.
Rose must not have received the memo. The PGA Tour is supposed to be a young man’s game.
“Yeah, listen, I don’t read into it,” Rose said. “I don’t buy into the narrative of it, but I take the pride out of it, that I’m doing something that’s not easy to do. But I don’t wake up in the morning and believe that narrative, either.”
He left Torrey Pines a year ago at No. 55 in the world. He ended the year at No. 10 having lost another playoff at the Masters (to Rory McIlroy), won the FedEx Cup playoff opener and qualified for his seventh Ryder Cup appearance. He was the oldest player on the team by seven years.
There’s that age thing again.
But it’s no less remarkable considering how the numbers are dwindling. Rose is among just 10 players 40 or older who have full PGA Tour status. That includes 50-year-old Tiger Woods, who last played in 2024 because of injuries, and 62-year-old Vijay Singh, who took a career money exemption and probably won’t play but a few times this year.
Harris English, the previous winner at Torrey Pines who qualified for the Ryder Cup last year, is 36 and found himself not taking anything for granted.
“I don’t know how much time I have left, maybe 10 years,” English said last week at The American Express. “It’s getting way more competitive.”
Joel Dahmen is trying to make do on conditional status this year. He’s 38.
“The tour is so deep,” he said. “These kids are so good. I think nine or 10 guys have their cards who are over 40.”
The others with full cards 40 and over are Brice Garnett, Chris Kirk, Alex Noren, Adam Scott, Webb Simpson, Jhonattan Vegas and Gary Woodland.
The age really isn’t an issue. Rose works hard, keeps fit and has added speed. It’s the motivation, the willingness to keep trying to improve when he has already accomplished so much — U.S. Open title, Olympic gold medal, reaching No. 1 in the world, and one of the few players who can claim victory on all six continents where golf is played.
“I’m still loving it,” Rose said. “I’m still working hard. You’ve got to love it to work hard. I still believe there’s good stuff in front of me.”
Woods was his motivation on Sunday. Rose had a six-shot lead and focused on little goals to keep him pointed in the right direction. He wanted to expand his lead for the third straight day. And he was aware the tournament record was 266 last matched by Woods in 1999.
No one got closer than six shots — his lead at the start — and he won by seven. And closing with six pars gave him the tournament record.
“Those days or those weeks or those rounds are definitely showing me that the gas is still in the tank,” Rose said. “Obviously, accessing it is the job now. How do I do that more often? That’s always the trick, but at least knowing it’s there builds a lot of confidence.”
His goals are clear. The next chance is April at Augusta National. Rose not only joins Ben Hogan as the only players who twice lost a playoff in the Masters, he has played with the Masters champion three times on Sunday — McIlroy last year, Sergio Garcia in 2017 and Jordan Spieth in 2015.
He also has six top 10s in the majors since turning 40. But his lone title was the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion. He doesn’t want to end as a one-time major champion, regardless of a career that is all but certain to land him in the World Golf Hall of Fame.
“I think I just need to be patient with myself when the weeks slip by that aren’t great and just know that it’s still there,” he said. “Just know I’m pretty good at gearing up for the weeks I want to play well and having that experience to do that.
“Listen, I’d love to find a way to play well every single week,” he added. “But if I can find a way to hone in on the weeks that I really want to play well, that would be enough for me to chase down some of the goals I have left in my career.”
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