U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP 2026

June 17, 2026

Justin Rose

Shinnecock Hills Golf Club

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome back. We are here with our 2013 U.S. Open champion, Justin Rose. Welcome. How does your game feel right now? Can you give us a state of your game and how you're feeling coming into this week?

JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, so feeling pretty decent about things. Having a lot of sort of -- seeing a lot of good signs in my game, a lot of good range sessions. Kind of like the way I played at the Memorial. Stats looked pretty good there. It was much better off the tee at the Memorial.

Into Canada, Canada was sort of a frustrating week. I felt like momentum-wise just didn't get anything good happening, although the game didn't feel bad, just two ho-hum rounds. Sometimes when you miss the cut, the game feels really off, but it was kind of from that point of view about as good a missed cut as I could have had. Nothing really to feel bad about my game.

Yeah, coming into this week potentially a little more refreshed because of that and excited for a U.S. Open challenge, which I think definitely Shinnecock presents as good as any other.

I think obviously with the forecast with the wind coming as well, it's going to be -- it's definitely going to be all you want and a handful tomorrow.

THE MODERATOR: This is your 21st U.S. Open. Do you think there's anything more still to learn, or are you just relying on experience at this point?

JUSTIN ROSE: You know, each venue is so different, right? I feel like you are always trying to learn the golf course. Each golf course has different nuances to it. But the overall test of the U.S. Open is about patience. Sometimes that's a lesson that you keep having to learn, and it's a hard lesson to learn.

But that's ultimately what it is, what it takes to win a U.S. Open. I'm sure pretty much everybody up here has talked about it, patience, especially this week. The golf course is what it is. There's a lot of pin placements you play away from. You try to keep it on the table, top shelf as best as you can, putt to the corners. That sounds easy to do, but that takes a real level of skill and a level of having your golf ball under control, especially in the wind.

I think that as this place firms out through the week and the winds stay up for the most part, I think we're going to have a calm day this week. It's going to take some really good golf to hit it in the right spots.

THE MODERATOR: You did play in the last two iterations here at Shinnecock in 2004 and 2018. How is the course playing this week compared to those two times in the past?

JUSTIN ROSE: I would say the course is about as enjoyable as I've seen it. I've had the pleasure of playing this course -- I say pleasure of playing in the U.S. Open. I've had the privilege of playing in a couple of U.S. Opens, and I've had the pleasure of playing it with a few members here and there.

I think obviously this is the kind of golf course that -- there's not many golf courses you could turn up to on any given week and play championship golf, and Shinnecock is one of them.

I think I like the way the approach is this year. I think that no one knows this golf club like Shinnecock knows it, the people here who operate the club week in, week out. It is a very unique site. It is up on top of the hill. It does get battered by the elements. The course changes dramatically from morning to afternoon.

Yeah, I think potentially what I'm hearing is some slightly different protocols this week make sense to me, and I think it's set up to be a great tournament.

Q. In view of that, the type of course it is, do you think there is a greater possibility of a U.K. -- sorry -- of a British winner? The follow-up to that is your thoughts about the possibility of it being a third person in a row from the U.K.? Third winner in a row in a major championship from the U.K.

JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, I hope so.

Q. Never happened before.

JUSTIN ROSE: I hope so. That would be a great way to make history for three in a row from the U.K. I feel like specifically England. Obviously Aaron has broken a bit of a drought again. I think -- I hoped that I broke that drought back in 2013. Obviously, Fitzy has won the U.S. Open as well, but if you look at relative to world ranking through the years, especially English players, I don't think we've won as many majors since Faldo as we could have or should have.

Obviously Aaron, that was an amazing win for him and a nice break-out win. Didn't surprise players on TOUR, but maybe surprised a lot of other people. Yeah, we'd love to keep that record going.

But I don't think it necessarily suits a British player any more than it does the Americans. They seem to come over and play great golf in The Open Championship every single year. I feel like their record at The Open Championship is actually stronger potentially than our own sometimes. I don't really see that being an advantage per se, but I like that you should never go against a run, and three in a row would be good.

Q. How would you describe your relationship with the U.S. Open? You've obviously won it, and then the last few years it's been a little bit more of a struggle. I wonder overall how do you feel about the tournament?

JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, I mean, I don't even really take any -- like I say, each tournament is so different. Each golf course has such a different vibe that I don't really sort of look at form, U.S. Open form per se as a driver for this week's performance.

It's a hit-or-miss week. If you are playing well, I think it's -- if you are on your game, yeah, it really helps to play well at U.S. Open. If you're not on your game, it really is a tough week. I do kind of feel like that's why it's a little bit spiky. Play well, miss cut. Play well, miss cut. It's hard to grind it out in a U.S. Open.

If you are playing marginal golf, yeah, you always have to grind. If you are playing well, you have to grind, but if you're playing slightly poor golf, it's hard going. The goal is to kind of get out, get on the front foot, play well, and if you do that, then I kind of have every sort of belief in my game that I can contend.

That's what I'm looking for. I'm not looking to kind of look at previous weeks and think, oh, I need to do better than that or I need to kind of break that streak of a couple of missed cuts or whatever it's been. I'm looking at if I go out and I play well, you know, I'm going to put myself in a spot where I know I can compete this week.

Q. You're not looking at previous results. Your results in majors this year have been encouraging. What does that say about the way you compete for the big events?

JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, I mean, I focus on the big events, for sure. I kind of try to build the ebb and flow of the season around them. I try to make sure I'm getting my recovery right and trying to make sure I'm getting my preparation cycles right to play well in the big events. I potentially sacrifice a few things along the way to try to make that happen.

Obviously that's a very hard thing to do is to kind of peak on demand, but you've got to give it a go, right? You've got to kind of stack the odds in your favor. Me and my team, we talk about ticking boxes. As I prepare for a major, I tick as many preparation boxes as I can to give myself ultimately the best chance I can of playing well.

They're the events that grab my attention. They're the events that are going to change my career. They're the events that I've sort of been getting up for and playing well in. So I'm excited.

Q. I guess I'll start by following on what you just said. There's only -- the difference between one and two majors is one major, but it seems like it's a much bigger difference in how you might be remembered if you were to get a second one. Would you agree? How do you think about that difference?

JUSTIN ROSE: I agree. I kind of agree, but I think when you've been World No. 1, you've won an Olympic gold medal and you've won the FedExCup and you've been No. 1 in Europe, I kind of feel like it's less important. I feel like -- yeah, I feel like it's less important based on my other résumé.

Yeah, multiple major champion is better than a major champion. Multiple of anything that I've achieved in my career, I would love more of what I've done. I'm very grateful for the things I've achieved. I'd love more of it all, but yeah, I think -- sure, I don't think it changes my career. It will change my career in the sense that I prove to myself over, again, another big gap that it would be like winning -- the challenge of winning another one would be like winning for the first time, I think. Just having -- pushing myself to sort of find that level.

You need to push yourself to find that level in the first instance, and I think where I'm at in my career now, pushing myself to find that final kind of level again to win another one would be a lot of self-satisfaction. I don't think it necessarily massively changes my standing in the game.

Q. A different question, but the USGA announced the greens are going to be at a much reduced speed, more in the 10, 10 1/2 range, something we're not really used to seeing very much. What are your thoughts on that?

JUSTIN ROSE: It's necessary. You know, the way the wind is blowing, the direction of the forecasted wind, it's literally -- if you think about No. 7 specifically, the way that green tilts, the wind is blowing dead down that green.

I think that -- overall I think with wind gusts up to 40 miles an hour, we wouldn't be playing many major championship venues with winds at 40. You wouldn't be playing Augusta with 40-mile-an-hour winds. It would be called off. I think this is more of a coastal golf course. I think the chances of high winds are slightly higher, so I think preparing for that is not a bad thing.

This week to keep golf going, I think that's the right call. I think if you knew that there was going to be 8-mile-an-hour breezes, you know, perfect. I'm sure they have every adaptability to get the greens to 12. But with knowing what's coming, that's definitely the only way to go.

Q. What are your memories from the previous times you were here where the course kind of got away from them?

JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, I mean, I think I was in the second to last group going into Sunday in 2018. Yeah, obviously the course was tough. Course got tough again that day, but they softened it. I think the course got really tough on Saturday, I think. I think Thursday was a really hard day wind-wise, and then I think the course got really, really firm and tricky on Saturday. Then I think they backed off a little bit on Sunday morning, put a lot of water on it.

The water seems to disappear on this golf course really, really quickly, so by the time Sunday afternoon and a bit of a breeze came around, it was really tough again. That's just the nature of how this place plays. I think there is a bit of a difference in the wave morning to afternoon, the way it feels and the way it plays.

I think anyone that's in and around the lead on the weekend is going to be, you know, grinding. I think maybe, like you saw with Tommy, there are opportunities to kind of play your way into it as well if you made the cut and get out early on Saturday morning. Especially with the way the fairways are this week, you know, they're a little built wider, you're going to have a few more opportunities with the irons in your hand to sort of be able to attack softer greens or softer conditions in the morning.

Like I said, the course changes so quickly. With 15- to 20-mile-an-hour winds forecast all week, you're going to have to hit great shots to put a score together no matter what.

Q. First time back in New York since the Ryder Cup. Can you talk a little bit about the unique challenges that both the Black and this course offer you? And also a little bit about the fans in New York compared to the Ryder Cup, what you are expecting this week? Just talk a little bit about that, please.

JUSTIN ROSE: I think the whole Long Island, Hamptons is littered with great golf courses. I think Bethpage is one that's hosted big championships, is worthy of hosting majors and Ryder Cups. Shinnecock, another one that's a real major championship venue. Like I said, you could turn up here any week of the year and pretty much play a major. There's so many cool golf courses.

One of my favorite places in the world to play golf is in this area. Just being out here this week, actually, I think obviously it's the time of year. I think a lot of kids seem to have broken up from school. There's a lot of youngsters out there. I think it's Father's Day this Sunday. There are a lot of families out watching the U.S. Open. I think from that point of view maybe a slightly different vibe to the Ryder Cup.

Obviously Ryder Cup is always different. It's us versus them, red versus blue. It obviously always creates a much more intense atmosphere. Whereas everybody here is a fan of golf and fan of certain players, but they're here to enjoy the U.S. Open as a whole.

I expect great crowds. I expect -- the crowds seem big, even in practice. I expect a great week.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about your partnership with McLaren Golf?

JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah. Obviously, yeah, a new partnership. It looked like it popped up out of the blue, but it's something that's been in the works for the best part of 18 months, I suppose. It's been a fun project.

Had a lot of input into the equipment, and I'm super excited about the outcome. Loving the clubs. Hoping that everybody gets to experience them, because I think once you hit them, you'll kind of see there is some really, really cool stuff happening.

I think they're super well-designed, and there's a few new sort of engineering tricks to them that I think give a real performance benefit. Yeah, it's been a fun project.

Q. Are they going to soup up a golf cart for you?

JUSTIN ROSE: That would be fun, wouldn't it? That would be cool.

Q. Justin, your thoughts on the USGA, because you've seen them go outside of the lane of the traditional locations, going to places for the first time and now back into an area with anchored sites and tightening the belt. If you look out ahead, do you like where the USGA is in terms of where they're going, where they're going to go to most often as you look at the next 15, 20 years?

JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, absolutely. I don't mind that the USGA kind of went for a little bit of an experiment, you know, a few public courses. Maybe brown is the new green. It's a bit more sustainable. Obviously, they tried, and so they should. As a governing body of the game, they have to look at all elements and all aspects of the game, not just necessarily one championship.

So, yeah, I think that experiment was worth doing for a few years. I think also maybe the fans spoke or the players spoke, and therefore, they maybe realized it wasn't necessarily receiving the kind of -- they're still a brand, and they still have a product to kind of -- they still have to put out a great event and a great -- turn out great tournaments for their own sort of standing in the game as well. I think that they've realized that, and they've kind of gone back to what works, tried and tested model.

From a player's point of view, it's nice to play a place that has rich history. Someone is going to hit a shot into 18 this week, and they might run up the hill to see where it finishes, and it kind of takes you back to Corey Pavin. There's many parallels you can then draw with other players, other people's careers when we're playing at the same venues and the same great locations in the game of golf.

Yeah, I'm a fan of the history side, but you know, I didn't mind the experiment either, to be honest with you. I don't know what the other part of your question was, but from my point of view, I'm very excited about the future, yeah.

Q. The other part you haven't heard yet, which is the surrounds here, Augusta National has expansive surrounds, but it's sticky chipping into a lot of that. It's mowed towards you. Turf conditions here. Do you sense that there will be more variety of clubs that you might be able to use? Again, this is also wind-predicated as well, around these surrounds.

JUSTIN ROSE: 100 percent. Obviously the surrounds here, I think -- the ball gets away from you further here potentially. Obviously certain holes, No. 10 or left of 11, there's some really sort of, like, scary-looking pitch shots. No. 5, the par-5, there's some big runoffs. There's options, for sure.

There's the perfect option, which is the spinny wedge, one bounce, checking it up onto the tabletop, all well and good. If your lie is not perfect, suddenly you're, like, that doesn't quite feel as good. If you are feeling a little bit nervous, that becomes a very tough shot.

It offers many, many options for players to kind of figure out how they're feeling, how they see the shot. There's a plan B always. There's a make 5 and get out of there kind of shot. There's try and make the miraculous up-and-down shot.

It kind of offers you every opportunity around the greens, which I think is -- it's typically what good golf courses are designed to have, right? You want high shot values out there, and I think there's a lot of high shot values with the short game this week.

The only thing I'd say is also the wind will be a big part of that. If you miss downwind or into the wind, it's going to change your options with your chipping a lot. If you are chipping into wind, you could probably be very aggressive this week. Chipping downwind, much tougher.

So potentially strategy-wise from a fairway, that's going to get factored in as well.

Q. Do you think the golf ball goes too far in the men's professional game today?

JUSTIN ROSE: Golf still feels hard to me, so I don't really know where to land on that. I think the game's changed. The athletes have changed. Like every youngster coming out now is 180-plus ball speed. Obviously some of that's the golf ball. You can maybe mark up 5-mile-an-hour with equipment over the last ten years maybe, but the players are just encouraged to swing and play and hit in a different way than they were 20 years ago, I'd say.

I think that's been the biggest shift more than equipment. Now we're kind of looking at how do we roll back the game because of the athletes that are coming into the sport? I don't think it's been an exponential kind of increase in technology or equipment. It's been players are playing a little differently now for sure.

I think maybe the driver is quite forgiving. It's big. Guys can kind of maybe hit a little harder. Maybe if the driver head was smaller, that would kind of limit potentially some of the way we move at it potentially. There's many ways to think about it.

But, yeah, I don't even want to get into that debate, to be honest with you, because I don't know. Like I said, golf still feels hard. I'm still hitting it 20 yards ahead of a lot of guys and 20 yards behind a lot of other guys. That's kind of how it's felt my whole career. There's always been guys longer than me, and I've always been longer than a bunch of other guys. That's still how it feels.

I'm relating myself always to my peer group, not necessarily to the environment. I'm trying to compete against guys, and everybody has the same opportunity.

Q. So the U.S. Amateur is coming to Merion this summer, a place fond to your heart where you won your U.S. Open. What can those players, those amateurs expect, and what can fans attending walking the fairways with some of the game's greatest amateurs expect that week?

JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, I think when Merion hosts the U.S. Open, obviously it's a huge honor for the club, and it's a great opportunity for the USGA and us players, but the tournament is so big that I kind of feel like you lose a lot of the charm of Merion. You don't quite get to use the clubhouse, be around in the parking lot. The lunchroom is right there on the 1st tee.

I think hopefully those elements of the championship will be more in play than they are at a U.S. Open. I hope everyone has a great experience.

Speaking as a member of the club, I absolutely love it. I think it's a golf course that stands up and holds up to the best players, again, on any given day. I don't think I've ever really gone low at Merion. I've played probably a bunch of times since winning the U.S. Open. I don't think I've gone lower than 67 around there. It's a short golf course, but it stands up each and every time you play it.

It's just got a real unique feel, and I hope everybody gets to experience that.