Despite Masters close-calls, Justin Rose knows ‘key’ to Augusta

Justin Rose left the grounds of Augusta National last year with a case of deja vu.

For the second time in eight years, no one had beaten Rose over 72 holes at the Masters. And, for the second time in eight years, the then-44-year-old left golf’s hallowed grounds as a tough-luck loser. Rose’s stirring final-round 66 ended with what he thought was his Masters moment, a 20-foot, curling birdie putt on the 18th green that sent roars through Augusta National and eventually landed him in a playoff with Rory McIlroy.

But after McIlroy bested him on the first playoff hole to vanquish his own Masters demons, Rose left Augusta National disappointed that once again fate had not called his name. But another near-miss, and third career runner-up at the Masters, didn’t leave Rose sullen.

“I won’t ever think why me?” Rose said on Monday ahead of the 2026 Masters. “I’ll be like maybe I could have done that better or done this differently, but not sort of looking up to the golfing gods giving it. ‘Why me?’ No. … When you realize you’re that close, you can taste the victory. You know what it would feel like had it been the other way around. I could see what it felt like. I can see the celebrations. It all played out right in front of me. So I kind of lived it as if I’d have won it, but obviously without any of the real positive emotion that goes with that, but I kind of sensed everything.

“It is the way it is. Kind of walked away on Sunday feeling like I gave it everything.”

Augusta National is a haven for those who triumph at the Masters. Once you don the green jacket, every corner of the property is filled with a memory, a feeling of a time when you levitated above the golf world. That moment lives forever, even as your hair grays and talent fades.

But for others, Augusta National holds only torment and questions. It’s a place that has baffled some greats and broken others. For Rose, you’d expect the scar tissue to be overwhelming. Take a look at the big trophy in the Augusta National clubhouse, and you’ll see his name three times — all as a runner-up. He and Ben Hogan are the only two players to lose multiple Masters in a playoff. Rose has led or co-led the Masters nine times after Rounds 1, 2 and 3 in his career, which ranks third all-time after Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. They have 10 jackets combined. Hogan won twice. Over the last 10 Masters, Justin Rose is 18 under par. That ranks seventh behind Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Xander Schauffele and Hideki Matsuyama. Only Rose and Schauffele have not won the Masters.

Rose is still waiting. Not to solve Augusta National, he’s done that. It’s a course that fits his eye and one he knows how to navigate. He’s waiting for his time at the Masters to finally be right. He’s part of Masters history, just not the kind he has dreamed for himself. But the “what ifs” and “could’ve beens” haven’t changed how Rose feels about the place.

“I think for me, I’m very aware that I’ve been close here,” Rose said. “I’m very aware that I’ve had tough, tough losses here. I also am aware that I enjoy this place. So I don’t want to feel that those three second-place finishes need to create a different sort of feeling for me. I can’t control the outcome.

“I can be philosophical about it, I think. Of course, I look at it and think those are racking up, they’re stacking up. I think eight players have won this tournament after finishing second the year before, which probably increases my odds if you look at the field. I can look at that and go, okay, that’s good. Happy with that.”

Rose arrives at his 21st Masters with a lot less runway ahead of him than road behind him. He’s 45 now, and while ranked 7th in the world, he knows that time keeps ticking. He enjoys the work, the grind, and that’s why he’s still at the top of the game. He’s also there because of a relentless perseverance and an ability to absorb and flush the disappointment that naturally comes when you’re living and playing to write your name alongside the greats of the game.

He missed 21 cuts to begin his professional career. He’ll fully admit that he didn’t look for knowledge where he should’ve when he was starting out. He made mistakes and eventually learned from them and built off the hard lessons the game made him learn. He’s always known that chasing his dreams would cause pain. Pain has to be part of the journey. You have to be willing to fail to win major championships. When you fall short, all you can do is dust yourself off and try again, believing that you can still reach your ultimate goal — that it sits on the horizon just within your reach.

“I kind of realized that even before I won a major,” Rose said about dealing with adversity. “I knew I was going to win some. I knew I was going to lose some. I kind of wanted to not get in my way too early, and I kind of realized when the opportunity presents itself to win a major, don’t make it too important in the moment. I kind of realized that you can’t skip through a career without a little bit of heartache and heartbreak, no chance. If you’re going to be willing to win them, you’ve got to be willing to kind of be on the wrong side of it as well.”

Throughout the years, we have seen countless players become obsessed with winning this golf tournament at this place. It lorded over McIlroy until his 4-foot birdie putt dropped last year to beat Rose. It has left Ernie Els with regrets and left Lee Trevino looking for answers. It would be understandable if Rose, who feels like he should’ve already won here, was obsessed with winning here — if everything was tailored toward making sure that his real Masters moment finally arrives.

That’s not him, though. He wants to win the Masters, of course. But he won’t make it everything. He knows that living that way would be destructive to the pursuit of his childhood dreams.

“I’d say firmly in the desire camp, just because I know that the latter is not going to help me,” Rose said of the desire versus obsession question. “It’s probably professional discipline just to keep it in the desire realm. I think I probably wouldn’t let myself go down the other path. Like I said, that probably won’t be fruitful. Professionally, I’m not going to do that.”

So, Rose is just going to do the only thing he knows he can as the 90th Masters prepares to get underway on Thursday. He’s going to soak up the good vibes of a place where he almost touched the sun, and hope that this time fate calls his name.

“The key is showing up,” Rose said. “The key is to try to be as free as you can in those moments. Yeah, you kind of have to hope a little bit along the way that it’s your day.”