Hey — it’s better than taking relief in Rae’s Creek.
Rose has always struck me as an unassuming, down-to-earth guy, from my days starting to follow golf as a youngster to when I watched his behind-the-scenes segments in Season 2 of “Full Swing.” Other golfers are fiery. They scowl. Rose pretends to get brain freeze in a credit card commercial.
There’s your 36-hole leader at the Masters, for approximately the 30th time.
I exaggerate, but the actual numbers are still surprising for a man who neither owns a green jacket nor springs to mind as one of his generation’s greats. Rose has held the outright lead after the first and second rounds of the Masters in 2004, 2021 and now 2025. He has led or co-led 10 Masters rounds in his career — yet never the fourth round, the one that provides all the glory and immortality.
We’ve had an absolute banger of a Masters so far, but it’s not too late for you to join us. Rose is 8 under par, and directly behind him are the likes of Bryson DeChambeau (7 under), Rory McIlroy (6 under) and Scottie Scheffler (5 under). Plus at least 10 guys in the 1- to 4-under range who’ve either won a major before or are talented enough to shoot a great score on moving day and insert themselves into the mix.
Rose, though, is who everyone is chasing. The 44-year-old has endured for a lot longer than many of the sport’s greats.
“I’d say me, Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia are sort of regarded as a generation that have had longevity, still doing it, still competitive, still willing and able,” Rose said after his round Friday.
When asked how it felt knowing he’d tangle with the likes of DeChambeau, McIlroy and Scheffler on the weekend, Rose’s answer was somehow both charmingly tentative and justifiably self-assured.
“Yeah, you know, that’s the company that I expect to keep, and that’s where I have tried to be my whole career,” Rose said. “That’s where I’ve been for a lot of my career. So I’ve been a top-10 player in the world for a decade or more. So yeah, this is nice to, obviously, yeah, be back in that mix, 100 percent.”
It forces you to recall Rose’s résumé: 25 victories split pretty evenly between the States and Europe. One major breakthrough at the U.S. Open in 2013, but 21 other top-10 finishes spanning from 1998 to 2024. The first Olympic gold medal for men’s golf once the sport was reinstated in 2016. A FedEx Cup.
There’s even 13 weeks spent as world No. 1 — not early in his career, during Tiger Woods’ reign of terror, but in 2018 and 2019, when he was approaching 40 yet keeping up with prime Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka.
If you toss a green jacket in there, that’s a Hall of Fame résumé. Maybe that’s what Rose has in store this weekend.
He’s done well to limit mistakes, but of his four bogeys, three have come between holes 14 and 18. Closing rounds strong will be paramount when you have arguably the three best players in the world on your tail.
We’re going to be focused on the Scotties and Rories this weekend, but don’t look past Rosie. Unassuming as he is, his golf won’t let you.
