Justin Rose’s PGA Tour season has come to an end after he was eliminated from the play-offs. The Englishman, 44, was five places adrift in the FedEx Cup standings from making this week’s 50-man field at the BMW Championship.
Rose looked well-positioned at the halfway stage of the St. Jude Championship, sitting T5 on eight-under. But his two rounds of one-over on Saturday and Sunday scuppered his chances of progressing to the second play-off event.
Things could have been very different for Rose now had he accepted an offer from LIV Golf, reported to be around £50million when the Saudi-backed breakaway approached him before their 2022 launch. Since then he’s been vocal about why he knocked it back and his thoughts on the rival tour.
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Contract talks
Rose was under no illusions about just how good a deal was on the table in front of him. For the 2013 US Open champion, there was a stronger motivation in play than the money, though - his childhood ambitions.
Joining LIV would’ve limited his opportunities to earn world ranking points, which in turn would’ve harmed his chances of qualifying for the majors. And it’s those four events which he grew up dreaming of winning.
“Sure it looked great on paper,” Rose told the Telegraph last year. “But what sealed it for me was honouring that kid who was on that putting green at North Hants golf club trying to knock in putts to win the Masters and the Open and the US Open and the PGA [Championship]. I felt I couldn’t let him down and stop chasing his dreams.”
Honest admission
Rose would’ve still had a shot at making the big four events as a LIV player through qualifiers. But he frankly admitted that he didn’t back his form enough to do that, having fallen drastically from being world No. 1 in February 2019 and being amidst a four-year winless streak.
He continued: “It made me sit down and analyse what I wanted from my career and what soon became clear was that the majors are the things that continue to drive me. And what made it, if you like, non-negotiable was that I didn’t have four or five years left of exemptions for the majors and without the access to world ranking points, it would have looked grim.
“I probably wouldn’t have got into this year’s Masters, maybe not the PGA, might have had to go through qualifying for the Open… so it could have just been the US Open and this will be the last of my champion’s exemptions in that. I just didn't want to see it conclude like that.”
Jon Rahm stance
While he stayed put, countless top players made the jump in the months thereafter. But it wasn’t until Jon Rahm’s U-turn in December 2023 that Rose seemed to express some concern about the PGA’s position, and potentially his own decision.
“That’s a big signing,” Rose said at the time. “He’s a big catch and a big loss. He weakens one side and strengthens the other. And I don’t know who else goes with Jon. If it’s just Jon, that’s bad enough. What does that mean now to the trickle? If it’s Jon plus a trickle, that’s not good.”
Of course, Rahm is now reportedly keen on making another 180 after a nightmare 2024 in which his form has nosedived and he’s cut a frustrated figure on and off the course. It’s been suggested he’s willing to give back what he’s earned from the estimated $500m ($386.3m) contract he signed with LIV.
Relationship with LIV stars
While the battle lines were drawn for some, Rose has been keen to steer clear of any drama between those who stayed loyal to the PGA and those who didn’t. Crucially, his Ryder Cup team-mates Ian Poulter, Henrik Stenson, Lee Westwood, Sergio Garcia, Paul Casey and Martin Kaymer are all on the other side of the fence.
His partnership with Stenson was particularly formidable over the years, and he and the Swede also battled it out in epic fashion at the 2016 Olympics. It was Rose who ultimately claimed gold in Rio with a birdie on the last while Stenson bogeyed to finish two shots back for silver.
“I try to keep my nose out of it because a lot of them are my friends and they remain my friends,” he explained. “I don’t judge their decision because everyone has their own parameters for what makes a good decision or not. I still continue to stay in touch with them and wish them the best.”
Ryder Cup belief
Despite maintaining his personal relationships with them, Rose was keen to emphasise that their absence from last year’s Ryder Cup wasn’t a blow - proved when he and his new band of European team-mates went on to defeat Team USA in Rome.
He told BBC Radio 5 Live: “There is so much strength in depth, I don’t think it will be devalued. People like watching Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter. They bring a lot of passion. They will be missed, for sure, but it is what it is.
“You have the powers that be, the traditional people who kind of still have control of golf, and you have an upstart league which is trying to bring in a fresh idea and rival product. It’s all good either way, it’s just can both fit together in this scenario?”
