Justin Rose lost to Rory McIlroy in a play-off at The Masters last week.
The 89th edition of The Masters will live long in the memory of golf fans the world over, after Justin Rose went toe-to-toe with Rory McIlroy around Augusta National on Sunday.
McIlroy finally completed the Grand Slam after 11 years of failing to do so.
So, could Rory McIlroy now actually win the ‘calendar year’ Grand Slam?
Whilst it may be almost impossible, one thing’s for sure, it wouldn’t be possible at all had he not won The Masters!
Meanwhile, Rose will be supremely confident heading into the final three majors of the season.
Justin Rose was proud of how he competed at The Masters, and rightly so.
However, the lead up to the play-off on Sunday did not pass without controversy.
Justin Rose’s caddie on controversy before playoff with Rory McIlroy at The Masters
Rose finished his final round at The Masters with a birdie on the 18th hole.
He then went to the practice facility at Augusta National to avoid tightening up.
Meanwhile, Rory finished with a bogey on the 18th, around 30 minutes after Justin had completed his round.
Many golf fans were angry with how long Rose made McIlroy wait on the 18th tee.
However, his caddie – Mark Fulcher, affectionately known as ‘Fooch’, has now cleared up the matter.
He explained how there was a reason Rose took his time to get to the 18th tee, when speaking on Sirius PGA Tour radio:
“Well, it’s funny. It sends me back to the play-off with Sergio. I remember coming off the 18th green and we were rushed. I remember being so rushed and not speaking at all to Rosie and him not speaking to me. We got to the back of the 18th tee and got on there, and we hadn’t really thought or discussed. Ironically, and I don’t know quite how this happened, I actually wrote in my yardage book on the 18th at the beginning of of the week – ‘if we get in a play-off, calm, slow, talk about it’. So, I wrote it in there. As he was signing his card I showed him that, and said this is what we need to do now. We got there nice and slow, and it wasn’t deliberate, it was in no way at all to put Rory off because Rory had gone straight there. But I was just something we learned from the Sergio moment years before. Obviously it didn’t pay off, but it certainly paid off as far as a beautiful drive and a beautiful second shot.”
At least Fooch has explained why Rose made McIlroy wait so long, but that doesn’t make it ok really does it?
It was poor form – no player should be made to wait that long on the tee ahead of a sudden death play-off.
What Justin Rose said to Rory McIlroy on the 18th green at The Masters
The two European Ryder Cup stalwarts embraced on the 18th green after the play-off on Sunday.
And when speaking to reporters, Rose shared what he told McIlroy during that embrace:
“I just said, listen, this is a historic moment in golf, isn’t it, someone who achieves the career Grand Slam.
“I just said it was pretty cool to be able to share that moment with him. Obviously I wanted to be the bad guy today, but still, it’s a momentous occasion for the game of golf.”
That’s really nice to hear, and those words prove what kind of man the Englishman is.
That said, Justin Rose still shouldn’t have made Rory McIlroy wait for so long on the tee ahead of the play-off at The Masters, regardless of the explanation given by his caddie.
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