PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA | For Justin Rose, now that one issue has just been dealt with he can turn his attention to another.
Rose was pleased to hear that Luke Donald had agreed to captain Europe in next year’s Ryder Cup at Adare Manor in Ireland for two reasons. The first was because of Donald’s success with Europe teams in Rome in 2023 and New York last year. “Luke’s done such an incredible job the last three or four years, however long he was in his position, you know, he gets first call, which I think is absolutely right. He is the right choice.”
The second was because it deflected some of the recent attention on Rose from golf’s chattering classes. These past few months, Rose has had enough of questions such as “who’s going to captain Europe in next year’s Ryder Cup?” and “would you like to do it?” For the moment at least, talk about Europe and the forthcoming Ryder Cup has been silenced.
That means that Rose, 45, the second-oldest man to reach the top three of the world golf ranking though he is currently fifth, has been freed up to concentrate on the formidable test facing him this week at the Players Championship. It will be his 21st appearance at TPC Sawgrass so there is no lack of knowledge. Working out how to tackle the Stadium Course is like eating an artichoke, you peel off one leaf and find yourself facing another – again and again. If it’s not a tricky up-and-down from around the second green, it’s the drive on the sixth or the second shot to the 11th.
“I feel like it’s a course that I love, actually,” Rose said. “I think it’s one of the best courses that we play on tour. I think it’s very fitting for this championship. It suits all types of players. But yeah, it’s tricky as well. I feel like it’s a venue that I would like to figure out a bit better this year, that is for sure. I’ve had some good weeks here, some great rounds, but yeah, would love to put four together this week.”
And then, as you near the end of your round, you face one of the most famous tests in golf – playing to the near-island 17th green. Darren Clarke put this into context when he told GGP: “The 17th at Sawgrass is like waking up at 6:30 in the morning knowing you have root canal work at 3:30.” Brooks Koepka revealed he had taken a 7 and an 8 on this par-3. Rose was asked what his highest scores were on this hole. He smiled at the question. He might not have liked to cast his mind back to bad memories but he had a good answer.
“I think maybe one of my survival instincts and the reason I’ve been on tour so long is I don’t have a great memory,” he said. “I think probably that was [a result of] starting my career with 21 missed cuts. I learned to not dwell too much on past mistakes. I don’t really remember. I think maybe I remember last year, I think I hit it in the water close to the cut line on Friday.
“Yeah, it’s a tough hole. I think it’s the kind of hole that conditions make it tough. You play it on a Tuesday, greens are relatively soft, you know there’s not much to it. Put a back pin there, you don’t want to have that tough putt. You’re still trying to hit the right shot, but the greens are getting firm where you slightly misjudge the wind by a few yards, yeah, certainly that green plays small, which is obviously the beauty of the hole and why we’re talking about it because, yeah, it does play tough some days.”
“So yeah, to answer your question, yeah, from the fairway if you’re playing well, you can really attack those pins, those feeder pins, much like Augusta, actually, a very second-shot golf course from that point of view.” – Justin Rose
Rose won the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in early February in runaway style, by seven strokes. He has had less success at TPC Sawgrass. In his 20 appearances his best finishes have been tied fourth in 2014, tied sixth in 2023 and tied eighth in 2019. He has missed the cut in three of his last four appearances.
“Yeah, I think it’s feast or famine. A little bit risk and reward, really, I think is the ultimate way to play this golf course. You’ve got to obviously do a lot of things well to – you’ve got to put the ball in the fairway off the tee. That doesn’t mean you have to hit drivers everywhere. There’s a lot of holes that you can just get the ball in play with whether it be an iron or fairway wood.
“I like the golf course when it has just that little bit of moisture in it to the point where you can use the side boards and the side slopes to feed the ball kind of close to the hole. [The] 13th, par-3, for example, being able to use the side hill to kind of come down to that left pin. Sometimes when it gets really, really, really firm, the ball skips through those side boards.
“So yeah, to answer your question, yeah, from the fairway if you’re playing well, you can really attack those pins, those feeder pins, much like Augusta, actually, a very second-shot golf course from that point of view. I guess if you’re on, you’re playing well, making birdies, doing well in the tournament, but if you’re a little bit off your game, you’re missing those opportunities to make those easy birdies when they should come around. I feel like this golf course does offer a lot of opportunities, but on the flip side of that, there’s trouble everywhere too.”
It was noticeable how comfortable Rose seemed when facing a roomful of questioners. His answers were articulate, well thought out, to the point and delivered calmly. These are all characteristics that will stand him in good stead when he captains Europe at a Ryder Cup. Increasingly it is not an “if he captains his home continent in the biennial competition” so much as when, even if, as we now know, it’s not going to be in Ireland next year.