Justin Rose is an English golfer from Johannesburg, South Africa, raised in Hampshire, England, a former world number 1, the 2013 U.S. Open champion, and the 2016 Olympic gold medallist. He has won 10 PGA Tour events and over 10 European Tour titles across a career spanning more than two decades at the highest level of professional golf.
Rose introduced himself to golf at 17 years old, when he holed a dramatic chip shot on the 72nd hole of the 1998 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale to finish tied for fourth as an amateur. He then turned professional and missed 21 consecutive cuts, a brutal stretch that would have ended most careers before they started. It did not end his. He rebuilt his game methodically, won on the European Tour, then established himself on the PGA Tour as one of the most complete players in the world. The 2013 U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club, where he closed with a final-round 70 to beat Phil Mickelson and Jason Day by two shots, was the culmination of fifteen years of professional persistence. His birdie putt on the 72nd hole, the same number that defined his debut at Birkdale, sealed the championship.
The Olympic gold medal in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 added another dimension. Golf had returned to the Games for the first time since 1904, and Rose beat Henrik Stenson in a dramatic final round at the Olympic Golf Course. Rose reached world number 1 in September 2018 after winning the FedEx Cup and the Fort Worth Invitational. His iron play, particularly from 150 to 200 yards, has been among the most precise on tour for over a decade. He controls trajectory, shape, and distance in a way that makes complex approach shots appear routine.
In 2026, Rose returns to Royal Birkdale for The Open Championship, the venue where his career began with that chip shot in 1998. Augusta National has been kind to him over the years, with multiple top-5 finishes at The Masters. Shinnecock Hills will host the U.S. Open, and Aronimink the PGA Championship. He will compete at all four. English fans can follow in United Kingdom time.