MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 6, 2026

Justin Rose

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, it is my great pleasure to welcome Justin Rose to the interview room.

Justin is a major champion, Olympic gold medalist, and former world No. 1, making his 21st appearance at the Masters Tournament.

In early 2026 Justin won the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, breaking the tournament record, and becoming the first wire-to-wire winner of that event since 1955. Congratulations.

At the Masters in 2025, he finished second after matching the low round on Sunday with a 6-under 66 to force a playoff.

Justin, you are clearly in great form. How are you feeling about your preparations coming into this week?

JUSTIN ROSE: Thank you very much. Excited to be here. 21st time, but it always feels like your first time. It's always exciting. That's the good news.

Coming in here, sort of a little different preparation cycle this year. Things have been a little bit busier, a few more things going on, like TGL crept in. There's been some family travel as well. From that point of view, I've done things a bit differently, just trying to feel as ready as I can be this week.

Last year I played Valero, this week chose not to, just felt like I needed a week with my team in the run-up to this, which kind of went really well and I'm glad I did it. That included a little practice trip up here on Tuesday and Wednesday last week.

Yeah, feeling good about things. I feel like I have clearly found my game. I've played very well. Farmers is a good example of that. Kind of more evidence that I'm still able to find my best, which is great to know.

Then my last time out, PLAYERS Championship, T-13, but I feel like I actually played a little closer to contending that week too.

Some good things to lean on coming into this week, and excited to be back.

Q. The whole age thing, ever think about it? Annoyance or motivation?

JUSTIN ROSE: Good question. I don't think about it on a day-to-day level. Happy that the narrative around it is more positive than negative, for the most part. Definitely there is some motivation there to kind of keep going, keep pushing, try to find new habits, new ways of trying to get better, realizing that that's a pretty difficult ambition to sort of get better at this stage of my career.

But still feel like there's areas of my game that I can improve on significantly and easily without sort of age being a factor to those areas of my game.

Still enjoying the work really, I think, and that's the most important thing. When you enjoy it, you don't feel your age. That's the most important thing.

Q. You mentioned a different preparation cycle. What have you learned about managing your energy coming into the Masters, and how have you gotten better at that over time?

JUSTIN ROSE: For sure. It's obviously a very exciting place to be. You enjoy your time on the golf course. But you're right, it's actually a tough walk. I actually came back here on Wednesday last week, and when you haven't played tournament golf for a couple weeks, you can be in the gym all you want, when you walk 18 holes, to get your legs back under you is definitely a thing. This is a tough walk.

So definitely sort of pacing yourself. I think most guys tend to play nine, nine, nine. I think very rarely people are out there playing 18, maybe on a Monday.

Definitely what I've learned through the years is that you -- there was a tendency early in my career to try to be perfect for Thursday. Yeah, you need to be ready for Thursday, but you kind of need to save your gas for Sunday as well. You've got to finish strong. If you start great, you still need to finish strong, be able to finish it off.

Yeah, saving -- kind of having the long-term view of what it takes to be in contention and finish it off on the weekend does definitely -- I'll probably do less now than I would have done 10 years, 15 years ago for sure.

Q. Every hole here famously is named after a plant. There isn't a rose unfortunately. I wonder, are you much of a gardener back home? What do you think in your last 20 years here when you look around and see all of the natural beauty?

JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, I'm not much of a gardener, although it is something I could see myself enjoying at some point. Listen, I'm not home enough to take care of anything or plant anything. It would not be the greatest looking garden if I was in full charge.

But my mother, my mum is all over that. Whenever I come back here, I think of her. How are the flowers going to be this year? Are they in full bloom? Always with her in mind.

Obviously I think, from our point of view, it's a spectacle, right? The whole place and the whole environment and the whole week, whether that's the golf course itself and the pristine conditions, whether that's the surroundings, the beauty, the plantings, all the patrons as well, they add so much color and class to the event as well.

The whole thing is a pretty beautiful show, but at the same time, I think once you're inside the ropes, you're inside the ropes. Not sure what the original question was, but I enjoy the whole thing.

Q. Did your mom ever ask you to pick up any tips that would help her out?

JUSTIN ROSE: She might be giving the tips, I'm not sure. Yeah, I haven't paid enough attention to probably go through the golf course and be able to name all the holes.

Q. The near misses you've had around here, do they only boost the belief you've got, or are there some permanent scars from them as well?

JUSTIN ROSE: Good question. I think it -- I hope it only boosts my belief that I can go ahead and do it. I feel like I've pretty much done what it takes to win. I just haven't kind of walked over the line. 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 in myself to kind of do something different. I truly believe that. No, I don't feel like it owes me anything. I come here with a good sort of attitude. I come here with it's a place that I enjoy being.

There's certain places you get to and you take a deep breath and go, Right, it's nice to be here. That still is one of them for me, Augusta still is one of those places for me.

I think through the years I've gotten to a know a lot of the people, whether in the locker room or members themselves, and it's a very enjoyable and comfortable place to be. From that point of view, I actually, very fortunately, don't feel that way.

Q. Just following on from that, Justin, does your level of experience here, how much of an asset do you think that is given that on two occasions, and most recently only last year, you have shot the lowest score here?

JUSTIN ROSE: I think sort of knowing your way around the golf course, you learn little bits, little nuggets here and there, and I'm always trying to learn. It's always subtle changes. They make subtle changes to the golf course, just by renewing and refreshing it, whether that be relaying or replanting a green. There's always going to be subtle differences.

So what you think you know can change as well year to year on a certain green. I try to honor those little nuances and try to dive into the detail of all that because I find that's the fun part really. The fun part is the strategy of the golf course and trying to break it down.

Listen, you can know everything in the world, but when it comes to execution, if you're not playing well, it doesn't matter how well you know anything. It's an execution-based business, and the golf course doesn't know what I know. Basically I've got to put a swing on a ball or make a good read in the moment or put it on the right speed and do all the things you have to do week in and week out to play well.

From my point of view, I don't think, oh, I know how to play this golf course. It's going to be fun. It's going to be easy. It very much keeps me -- I turn up every day I play this golf course knowing it's a new body of work.

Q. What about the emotional experience that you have around here? Because it's not just the topography, it's the sights, the sounds, and the emotions that can be unique here.

JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, for sure. I've already experienced it this week. A lot of people are wishing me well or thinking it's going to be my year, whatever, just based around sentiment, you know what I mean? So I'm going to have to manage that a bit this week, and that's going to be part of my week this week for sure is people remembering what happened last year.

That's fine, but I've got to kind of be aware of that, be ready for that, and I've got to have my own narrative and not kind of buy into everyone else's narrative.

Q. It's been 40 years since Nick Price set the course record with 63, 30 years since Greg Norman matched it. Having played here so much, why do you think that record's been held for so long?

JUSTIN ROSE: I'm surprised that it has been that long. There's so many great players capable of putting up that number. I think that the course lends itself most ideally to that score on a Sunday, but also if conditions allow, Sunday is kind of when the course is getting its most sort of maxed out in terms of green speeds and firmness. So that kind of counteracts maybe some of the more accessible hole locations that traditionally we see on Sunday.

Although last year I felt like there were some new pins on Sunday that we hadn't seen before. So I feel like it was mixed up a bit.

The course has gotten longer, a lot longer in the last 20 years or so. I think that's a big thing, a lot of mid-irons into small targets. Wedges into small targets. If you're on and it's your day, sure, you can make a lot of birdies. Mid-irons into small targets, if you're on and it's your day, you're going to make a lot of birdies, but you're also going to make a bogey or two quite easily.

That was the nature of my round on Sunday. Made a lot of birdies, played great; still made some mistakes. This course can do that to you pretty easily. You make one or two bogeys, it's pretty hard to chase a record.

Q. Johnny Miller liked to say that a man shouldn't be judged by what he accomplishes, but what he overcomes. I wonder if you ever think of a strategy for dealing with adversity or disappointment. I mean, you've accomplished an awful lot in the game, but anybody who plays this long is going to run into some walls.

JUSTIN ROSE: I kind of realized that even before I won a major. 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 myself to win a major, don't make it too important in the moment.

Also, 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.

The key is showing up. 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. There's definitely been -- it could have been my day in a couple of major championships that I wouldn't have had to have done anything different really to be the winner as well. Hopefully with that mindset, keep chipping away, my day might still happen where a little bit of something goes my way.

The point is you've got to put yourself there. That's the hard part. All we can do as players is to focus on our game, focus on our skill set, and make the odds in our favor the best we can. Sometimes the ultimate result, yeah, sometimes it's in your control, but sometimes there's a lot of other factors and little bits of movement that all have to kind of sync up.

The better player you are, the more chances you're going to have and the more you're going to win.

Q. You have to go back 30-some-odd years since the last time both Tiger and Phil missed the Masters. I'm just wondering what it's been like out there? How does it feel not having those two players out? I know we're only in the practice stage right now.

JUSTIN ROSE: With great respect to those two players, I hadn't thought about it. Yeah, they've both been obviously titans of the game for the last three decades. Clearly in a tournament like this, if you're a past champion, you get an opportunity to come back. Whether they're 1,000 in the world or 500 in the world or whatever current rankings may be, their stature is way more elevated than that in the game of golf and always will be.

Yeah, it's always a loss to not have either of them in a field anywhere. Yeah, to your point, I hadn't noticed it yet. Therefore, we're all kind of in our mindset of just -- in our own lane, so to speak. Obviously you're looking at your own sort of preparation cycle and having to play well.

You know, no matter who you go up against -- whether it be Tiger, Phil, Scottie Scheffler, Rory -- whoever is there on Sunday is playing good golf. So it doesn't matter what name's on the bag.

Q. Chris Gotterup was in here earlier and said that you and Fooch passed on some valuable information to him during the practice round. Do you recall who played that role for you? At this stage in your career, do you feel like you're in a dual role, still very much competitive, but also an older, wiser man who can begin to pass on some knowledge?

JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, I think -- I always have a lot of respect for people who go ahead and ask and say, hey, would you mind to have a practice round? I'm always like, yeah, sure, absolutely, because I don't think I did a very good job of that myself.

If I look back at my career, I probably learned the hard way. 21 missed cuts suggests I didn't learn very quickly and could have asked a few more questions and sought out a bit more help.

Obviously I'm not going to babysit Chris out there and tell him everything. He's a great player. He's top 10 in the world. There's not much you need to say. But just the fact he wanted to sort of observe or come out there, and if he had any questions, more than happy to at least give my spin on something.

Like you said, the Ryder Cup, yes, I think it's important to potentially have people in that role within the team, but at the same time, you don't want to force your opinions on people because it's not -- what makes people great is their own unique kind of style. You can't try to influence too much. In that role, for example, certainly in the team room, taking it back to the Ryder Cup. But flattered to be asked for sure.

Q. We all have associations with Amen Corner and all the emotions that those three holes evoke. In your own words, how would you describe Amen Corner and its role here at Augusta National?

JUSTIN ROSE: I think the first time I ever saw the golf course, it kind of -- it came alive for me once I kind of crested the hill on 11 and I saw Amen Corner unfold, it was like, oh, wow, okay, I get it. It was an amazing moment just to sort of see it reveal itself.

Then no round of golf is ever safe here really until you've -- certainly until you've got through those holes. They offer you opportunity, but at the same time, yeah, there's a lot of sort of hazards and trouble. You've got to hit great shots, and you've got to be sort of not distracted by the beauty of it all.

Listen, Amen Corner, it's got also that airy feel as a player as well. You're sort of up close pretty much with the fans most of the day or the patrons most of the day, and then all of a sudden, you kind of get this quiet moment, which is actually nice. I enjoy that quiet moment. It's a nice place to take a breath, recenter yourself, and kind of go and finish the round strong.

Yeah, like I said, the first time I saw it, it was jaw-dropping. Pretty happy, by the way, they put the three trees back in behind -- it was a tough loss, the three trees. The cricket stumps, I call them, because that was my target there into 11. That's nice those are back this year.

Q. Where would you put yourself on the scale between desire for a green jacket and obsession with it?

JUSTIN ROSE: I'd say firmly in the desire camp, just because I know that the latter is not going to help me. It's probably professional discipline just to keep it in the desire realm.

Yeah, 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.

Q. I was looking at the drinks fountain out by the practice range, and they have the list of tournament winners up there. Your name is actually up there twice, but it's obviously in the small print about where people have tied with you. I was wondering in your 21st Masters just how you reflect on that kind of curious position you're in in tournament history?

JUSTIN ROSE: You mean having my name on the trophy three times, you mean?

Q. Your name is on the list, the tournament records list. Your name is up there twice, but because of the playoffs, you lost.

JUSTIN ROSE: I actually think it's on the main trophy in the clubhouse, the huge -- I think it's on there three times. I think, even when I finished second to Jordan Spieth in 2015, it's on there, I believe.

Q. You're a huge part of the history, the story of this tournament.

JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, I guess.

(Laughter).

I think for me I'm very aware that I've been close here. 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 sort of like -- 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 think last year in the playoff, I felt like I learned from 2017, and I felt like I played a much better playoff than I did previously. So I kind of adapted and learned. I knew what was coming. I did the right things. I executed. I made two good swings, made a reasonable putt, I thought. So, yeah, I did everything that I could do. So I can kind of live with that in a way.

I can be philosophical about it, I think. Yeah, of course, I look at it and think those are racking up, they're stacking up, yeah. But someone said -- 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.

Like I said earlier, I can only turn up on Thursday and execute. That's all I can do. And get here on Monday and enjoy it. Those are the two things that I have control over.

Q. There's a lot of talk about experience being an asset here. Is there a point where it turns into a liability?

JUSTIN ROSE: Only if you look at it -- only if you are focusing on the things that -- yeah, knowledge is good, but it's also good and bad because you know that you can't do that, you should do this, and you should do this because that's no good.

If you're focusing on the wrong side of that equation, then I think knowledge, yeah, sometimes freewheeling without knowing all the parameters can lead to freedom. I have definitely played tournaments where I haven't played a practice round, and that freedom has been the benefit for sure.

So as a player, that's kind of a personal commitment choice is to go how do you play knowing all the variables? You've got to go all in. You've got to be completely committed. You've got to be ruthless to the shot that you want to hit, so be front-footed rather than -- you might be playing safe, but you've got to be playing safe in the right way. That's the dance that you do with knowledge for sure.

Q. Just going back to last year, when you leave after another tough loss like that, what is the overwhelming emotion as you're going back? Is it why me or why not?

JUSTIN ROSE: I think it was a bit surreal. I felt a little bit of deja vu, like wow, I feel like I've lived this before. It's very natural to think, okay, what could I have done better, this, that, and the other? There were a couple of mistakes I made on the back nine, where I was in between driver and 3-wood off the tee on 14 and 17.

So I won't ever think why me? I'll be like, yeah, 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.

Yeah, there was definitely a what might have -- 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. That kind of just made it -- yeah, to be right there but not obviously have the result -- yeah, it's disappointing, of course, but there's no kind of like why, you know what I mean? It is the way it is.

I felt like I did a good job. That's what I said earlier. I felt like I did for a large part. I feel like Saturday afternoon is the missed opportunity, quite frankly. Saturday is the day I'm frustrated and mad about. 40 putts or 38 putts or something crazy like that, that was the day I lost it really, and then did a great job on Sunday.

Kind of walked away on Sunday feeling like I gave it everything.