Justin Rose illustrated his class as he fought back tears before composing himself to praise The Open champion Xander Schauffele moments after his final round had ended on Sunday. The 2013 US Open champion was unable to clinch a second major as he finished two strokes behind the winner at Royal Troon.
Rose was comforted by his wife Kate after finishing his final round as she told him: “I’m so proud of you.”
But he refused to dwell on his heartache as he stood in front of the television cameras and gave his take on four days of scintillating golf.
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“I won second place,” explained the 43-year-old. “I won FedExCup points. At that point, you’re being a professional. Then I walk 10 steps and I’m choking back tears. So that’s the shift. I just think it’s such an amazing stage.
“[I’m] gutted. I walked off the course and it hit me hard because I was so strong out there today. I really played the way I wanted to. I got off on the front foot and felt comfortable with it all day.
“I did a lot of the hard things really well, just a critical moment midway through the back nine momentum-wise. Xander got it going. I hit a couple of really good putts that didn’t fall, and then suddenly that lead stretched.
“In terms of how I played and the execution of my emotions today - my mindset - I left it all out there. I’m super proud of how I competed.”
Rose finished the first day of action on two under-par, before consolidating his impressive start with a round of three under on Friday. He then began the final day of play tied in second place after completing his third round on the links course in two over following a miserable day of weather on Saturday.
But despite ending the fourth day with his best round of four under, he was unable to topple Schauffele, who went through the final 36 holes at eight under-par.
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And Rose went on to speak about his family after his disappointment as he added: “I would say life’s been harder for the last five, six years in terms of parenting and kids getting older.
They’re less mobile. They can’t travel as much. There are more demands on us as a family.But they’re always proud of me. They’re very philosophical. They get it. They know it’s hard.
“You want them to see you as a winner. They know that. As I get older, it would be cool to share that with them.”
