Hi – it’s better than taking relief in Raes Bäck.
Rose has always struck me like an unassuming, down -to -earth guy, from my days who started following golf as a young man when I looked at his behind the scenes in season 2 of “Full Swing.” Other golfers are burning. They scowl. Rose pretends to get brain freezing in a credit card advertising.
There is your 36-hole leader at Masters, about the 30th time.
I exaggerate, but the actual figures are still surprising to a man who neither owns a green jacket nor will think about as one of his generation greats. Rose has held the straight lead after the first and second rounds of the champions in 2004, 2021 and now 2025. He has led or collaborated 10 Masters rounds in his career but never the fourth round, the one that gives all honor and immortality.
We have so far had an absolute banger by a master, but it is not too late for you to join us. Rose is 8 under par, and directly behind him are those like Bryson Dichbeau (7 under), Rory Mcilroy (6 under) and Scottie Scheffler (5 under). Plus at least 10 guys in the 1- to 4-under series who have either won a major before or are talented enough to shoot a good point on moving day and get into the mix.
Rose, however, is who everyone is hunting. The 44-year-old has endured much longer than many of the sports’ greats.
“I would say, Adam Scott, Sergio Garcia is considered a generation that has had a life span, still does, still competitive, still willing and capable,” Rose said after his round of Friday.
When asked how it felt to know that he would mess up with such as Dechambeau, Mcilroy and Scheffler on the weekend, Rose’s response was in some way charmingly tentatively and rightly assured.
“Yes, you know, it is the company that I expect to keep, and that is where I have tried to be my entire career,” Rose said. “That’s where I’ve been in much of my career. So I’ve been a top-10 player in the world for a decade or more. So yes, this is nice to, obviously, yes, be back in that mixture, 100 percent.”
It forces you to recall Rose’s CV: 25 wins are shared fairly evenly between states and Europe. A major breakthrough at the US Open 2013, but 21 other top-10 surfaces ranging from 1998 to 2024. The first Olympic gold medal for men’s golf when the sport was reintroduced in 2016. A FedEx Cup.
There are even 13 weeks like world no. 1 – not early in his career, during Tiger Woods’ reign for terror, but in 2018 and 2019, when he was approaching 40 but was doing Prime Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka.
If you throw a green jacket in there, it’s a Hall of Fame -CV. That is perhaps what Rose has in the store this weekend.
He has done well to limit mistakes, but of his four bogeys, three have come between holes 14 and 18. Closing rounds will strongly be of the utmost importance when you have no doubt the three best players in the world on the tail.
We will be focused on Scotties and Rory this weekend, but do not look past Rosie. With unassuming as he is, his golf will not let you.
