Read the full interview with 2025 FedEx St. Jude Championship winner Justin Rose, who secured his 12th PGA TOUR victory in dramatic fashion with a playoff triumph
What does it feel like to get it done?
JUSTIN ROSE: Well, I’ll tell you what, it feels amazing to get it done. Today was obviously a great opportunity starting the day.
There were a lot of, I guess for me, storylines involved, playing with Tommy, one of my best friends out here on TOUR, clearly Scottie right there, a whole chasing pack.
But starting the day one back, clearly that’s an opportunity to have an awesome chance at winning a tournament. It kind of wasn’t going my way.
The front nine was slow for both me and Tommy so there were four of us in the mix heading into the back nine.
I stalled a little bit, but then the last five holes, I played some of my best golf, and I kind of felt like I pulled it together when I really had to, and even in the playoff I continued to hit great shots, and that just makes it so much fun as a competitor to really, really, really, when you have to hit the shots, to find them. I’ll take a lot of pride in that today.
Q. You just mentioned the last five holes especially. What were you leaning on or what were you dialing in for those approach shots into 18?
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, it’s a strange balance of patience because obviously if you try too hard in anything in life it doesn’t seem to happen, so you’ve still got to let it come to you.
But being committed, but I think being brave, trying to be brave I think is what — especially on the 14th hole, I hit a hold 6-iron to that back right pin. That was a pretty clutch shot, I suppose, to sort of take that one on and to pull it off.
That sort of then gave me the little bit of momentum I needed at that time in my round. It was also the first putt that I saw disappear. I tried to tell myself out there today — the theory of large numbers, and I kind of used this in the past, but if the putts are drying up and if you keep your routine the same and if you keep doing everything the same, over time, you’re going to have your fair share go in.
I was just kind of waiting, playing a waiting game before the hole opened up and I was able to see some putts fall. Fortunately they began to fall at the right time.
Q. As a past FedExCup champion, what does it mean to capture the first win here of three Playoffs?
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, it kind of puts me right back in the season’s race. I have not even looked at where that projects me, all these types of things, but back up in the realms of where I sat for a long time.
I haven’t been back to East Lake since 2019, and that’s been bugging me, and that’s obviously been a huge goal, so that’s obviously taken care of.
I definitely played some good golf this year when it’s mattered. I feel like my good has been good.
My consistency hasn’t been there, but I’ve been telling people that I feel like when I play my best golf, I’m able to compete with the best players in the world, and obviously today proved that I can win against the best players in the world.
It’s really a gratifying day for me just to know that the hard work I have been putting is not in vain, and I haven’t really — I felt so focused coming into today that I haven’t really had a chance to enjoy this yet.
I’ve got to see some loved ones; do you know what I mean? Because obviously they’re the people that sacrifice everything with me, and as soon as I see my son tonight and my family and even my team, my wider team, that’s when it’s going to really feel good for me.
Q. Speaking of loved ones, while it would have been nice to have them here in Memphis, what were they saying over FaceTime or what are the plans to see them?
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, so my wife and my daughter are in Greece right now on a girl holiday, and then my son flew to Baltimore and he’s waiting for me there, so we’ll have a boys week while they’re having a girl week.
Can’t wait to spend a week with my man now. He’s 16, and obviously the girls over FaceTime had stayed up late, it was 2:00 a.m. in Greece. But yeah, they were delighted.
I felt cool, calm and collected, and as soon as you see the family, you start to choke up, but that’s what it’s all about.
Q. Winning at 45, what’s sort of the source of pride of doing it after — you’ve been a pro for 27 years now. What’s the source of pride, just the longevity of your career?
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, I mean, there’s a lot of sense of pride in that. I think I’m not alone in it. There’s been guys that have done it, but there’s a pretty short list of guys that are competitive in that 45 to 50 sort of age range. Historically it was a bit of a waiting room for the Champions Tour.
Obviously Phil bucked the trend; he won a major at 51. I feel like that’s good motivation. I feel like — I still feel like there is that golden summer of my career available to me. That’s what I’ve been pushing for.
Moments like getting close at Troon and then obviously getting close at Augusta, they’re signals that it’s possible. This is another really, really, really important signal that I’m on the right track with my game, and actually maybe even getting a little bit better at the moment.
Will I ever be the best player that I was when I was maybe 2018 No. 1 in the world? I don’t know, but I don’t have to be I don’t think, as long as I can find it at the key times.
Yeah, I’ve been able to do that — I’ve shown good signs, I think. But winning is winning. I think proving that to yourself, even though I’ve come close and I felt good in contention, getting over the line is still difficult, and obviously I’ve won, like, twice in six years now, but this one felt good.
I felt like I had to hit the shots, I had to step up again and again and again in the playoff. I felt ready for it. I felt calm.
I felt collected. I think that’s when you learn most about yourself. I feel excited about where I’m at at 45 and I feel like there’s a good bit of runway ahead.
Q. Standing on 14 tee, what did you feel like your chances were and what was sort of that feeling that clicked in on the next five holes?
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, standing on the 14th tee, I didn’t really think my chances were great, but I knew I had just to give it everything.
Like I said, it was a bit of a mix of okay, the time is now, you’ve got to be brave and take on every shot possible, but also you’ve got to be committed and calm with it. You can’t just get yourself in a flat spin and think, right, that’s not how it works.
But really, I guess just the two shots on 14, hitting a 6-iron in there, holing the putt, and you kind of know that 15 and 16 are chances, so in the back of your head you sort of know if you play those holes right, you can make a little run, and that’s exactly what happened.
Then obviously dropping the putt on 17, I was like, okay, I’m right in there, so obviously that piggy-backed with Tommy’s bogey, but then I realized that J.J. must have birdied because I was looking at Tommy a little bit, and then I realized J.J. had actually birdied 17 to get to 16-under, so I was like, ugh, so that was a surprise.
Then gave myself a great shot at it on 18 in regulation. Hit a good putt. Had exactly the same putt in the first playoff hole.
Hit it slightly differently, still managed to miss it somehow even though it was looking great at halfway. I’m kind of just talking nonsense now, but I guess all I’m trying to say is that there was a lot going on, but I felt like I kept stepping up and hitting great shots when it mattered, and yeah, super delighted to get over the line.
If I’d have imagined myself in a different situation having lost in another playoff, for example, there would have been pride in how I played, but there would have been double — it would have double down on the frustration maybe of Augusta.
This feels really good.
Q. Was the possibility of this even in your mind when you were sick earlier in the week or at that point were you just thinking about trying to get through it?
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, it was a weird one. Monday night started to not feel 100 percent. Tuesday I came out and did some practice, didn’t actually get on the golf course, didn’t feel like playing nine holes was actually going to be helpful, so I just walked a couple of holes.
I think we walked 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, and by the time I did that, I was like, just get me to the car. I was hoping to sleep it off. Woke up Wednesday morning kind of even worse. My resting heart rate was like 80, and it’s normally mid 50s.
I remember pushing myself through a pro-am earlier this year in Philadelphia and actually ended up withdrawing from the tournament by Saturday. So I tried to learn that lesson and I pulled out of the pro-am, unfortunately, on Friday, and — sorry, on Wednesday, and was able to get a lot of rest in that day and sleep.
By the time Thursday came around, I felt pretty reasonable.
In hindsight, a couple less days in the heat, a couple less days on the golf course maybe helps give you that mental freshness come Sunday. That’s definitely possible.
Certainly wouldn’t have projected myself to be sitting here right now when I was thinking Wednesday morning how the week was going.
Q. Did you feel drained at all during the playoff because of being sick earlier or were you just on adrenaline at that point?
JUSTIN ROSE: No, obviously I came out and shot 64 on Thursday, so once that was behind me I was fully into the week.
I’ve been very disciplined this week on my recovery, on my hydration, on my diet. I think all the players are this week.
We realize how much it takes out of you, and we’re also realizing Baltimore is a pretty big week, big golf course, hot. East Lake is hot.
So I think a lot of players are very disciplined at the moment just trying to sort of wash, rinse, repeat. There’s not a lot of fun going on right now.
There’s a lot of ice baths, a lot of good hydration, nutrition, so that’s what I’ve been focusing on this week. Maybe tonight I might break a couple rules.
Q. Walking off the course, where does this one sort of rank in your mind in your career in terms of the dramatics and the thrill of the whole — of the way it played out?
JUSTIN ROSE: This one felt quite stoic in the sense of determination, execution. There were a few different agendas playing with Tommy, playing in great spirits in that group, and then kind of turning into the playoff and being that dynamic as it always is with USA, Europe, obviously Ryder Cup around the corner.
But I just felt like I stayed really calm with it all and felt very much just one foot in front of another, so all of the other stuff that was coming at me, I feel like I really deflected a lot, and because I did such a good job of deflecting a lot, I think I deflected a lot of the emotion and the joy of the actual winning moment, so it was quite — in some ways quite a calm win, even though I think when I look back at it, it was fireworks.
There were some great shots and birdies and putts and a lot to look back on.
I’m going to enjoy watching this one back, if I’m honest, but in the moment I was pretty flat lined.
Q. Were you surprised by the fact that it was so calm?
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, a little bit. A little bit. But I think it’s a testament to how good I felt under pressure or how I had to control my mind under pressure.
Sometimes when you hole the putt to win, you have that moment where you can let it go. I had holed the putt and then I’m waiting for J.J. to essentially miss the putt to win, so there’s not that massive spike of adrenaline moment.
It’s like that relief moment. Sometimes when you win by someone missing a putt, it sort of — it’s a different way to win, right, rather than holing the 30-footer across the green to get it done, and the elation of that moment can set you off.
Q. Justin, with the playoff being on the same hole, how much of a mental challenge was it for you and J.J. to try to figure out what to do again and again and again and how to approach the same hole three different times?
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, so I’ve never really played that hole the way I played it today. Never hit driver off that hole.
I’ve never been able to cover the left side. For some reason I’ve been hitting it quite far this week and the wind was just perfect.
It was down from the right-hand side, and it meant I could just cover the left-hand side. I felt like it was playing perfect for me today with the driver. I
f I held the driver up a little bit, I probably wasn’t going to run out, and if I turned the driver over, I was going to make the carry, which obviously that angle that I was able to create to the back left pin was very advantageous.
Then obviously they changed the pin to the back right. That sort of advantage was negated a little bit. But funny enough when they changed the pin was when I won the first time around on that pin placement.
But the pin placement for the third time around in the playoff was sort of similar to day one or day two, I can’t quite remember, but I had a putt in that back section of green that I had under-read, and I actually walked over to exactly where — you could see the old cup mark, so I tried to get a feel for that part of the green and then the part of the green that I was actually putting on in the playoff, and that was definitely helpful, and holed a really good slippery left-to-right putt there.
I was able to sort of, I guess — changing it played into my hands eventually. But J.J. is obviously such a great player.
You’re never waiting for him to make a mistake. He’s so solid off the tee. But he obviously had to fit a 3-wood into probably the tighter bit of fairway, so probably a harder tee shot for J.J., especially being a left-to-right player. But I’m glad it worked out in the end.
Q. Two years ago you tied the course record here and now winning at TPC Southwind. What about this course fits your game so well even after the renovations?
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, I think it’s the kind of golf course that, like I said, even though I’m hitting the ball pretty far this week, it’s the type of golf course that doesn’t demand a ton of length off the tee. It’s all about fitting the ball in the fairway.
There’s a lot of strategy, a lot of doglegs hitting to the corners. Obviously Bermuda rough I think is such a great way to play, and I think the rough was thicker this year than we’ve had it in years past.
Yeah, it’s a thinking man’s golf course from that point of view, and it really — fairways and greens get rewarded here a lot. But I have been able to go low here. I’ve had a 61 here. This week was able to fit in some pretty good scores.
I think it’s also the greens are pure. I putt well on Bermuda, I guess, and I’m pretty comfortable reading them.
There’s not a ton of slope on them. But fairways and greens, I respect that, and that’s how I like to play my golf.
If you look at the tournaments I’ve won through my career, it’s been on the type of tracks that there’s a little bit more strategy involved than just sending it.
Q. Going back to the playoff, you had a longer tee shot than J.J. each of the three times. What was your strategy on that, and were you trying to get to a certain number with your approach shot?
JUSTIN ROSE: What I liked about the tee shot was just the way the angle was and the wind was, that if I pulled it I was going to go further left where the carry is longer, but typically if I pulled it on the wind, it was going to carry further, and if I pushed it a little bit up into the wind, it was going to land shorter. But the way the hole sets up, that was a good miss profile for me.
Yeah, I wasn’t trying to hit to a specific number per se, but yeah, if I hit a good tee shot, it was going to leave me sand wedge in my hand, so that was obviously a green light trying to make birdie. You’re trying to close it out.
Q. How did you keep from falling backward into the water on that one shot —
JUSTIN ROSE: Oh, thank God. I don’t know. It was close. It was nearly a Woody Austin moment for sure.
Yeah, just pure embarrassment kept me from falling in the water, I think, 100 percent.
Q. Justin, you’ve played golf all over the world. You’ve won tournaments all over the world. How would you describe the fight you brought to this Sunday in Memphis?
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, that was an amazing last 90 minutes really. Seemed to be the way it got this week. When I got myself a few back, something good would happen. Never stopped believing.
The 6-iron I hit into 14 was a clutch shot; back right pin, had to hit the perfect golf shot in there. That set up the birdie that I needed just to give myself a chance.
Played unbelievable golf coming down the stretch. I had so much fun with it. 18 was playing perfectly for me today. If I pulled it, I carried it, if I held it up — I hit a couple good putts in regulation and in the first playoff hole as well. Obviously J.J. dropped a bomb on me, I topped him. It was a lot of fun today.
That’s why I practice. That’s why I play. I’ve been saying for some time now, obviously Augusta, when I bring my best, I know I’m good enough to play and to compete, and to now win against the best players in the world. Very gratifying day for me and a lot of hard work coming to fruition.
Q. At 45 years of age, what did you learn about yourself today? Everyone calls you meticulous, precise and prepared, but what did you learn about what’s inside of you at this age of your career?
JUSTIN ROSE: Yeah, I’ve always known I’ve had that. I get nervous with the best of them. I feel nervous at times. But I know when it matters, I’ve still got it. I kind of feel better and better and better as it gets more important. That’s good to know.
It’s hard stuff to practice, hard stuff to teach. Nice to know that hasn’t left me at this ripe old age. Listen, I don’t want to keep saying that because I’m actually — I feel like I’m moving well, the body is feeling good, I’m training well. Yeah, I feel like there could be a good run of golf still. I can’t let the age kind of become too much of the story.
But today is huge for me. I can’t wait to share it with Fooch. We’ve been together a long time. Amazing caddie. We’ve been through our ups and downs. He feels the good and the bad as much as I do. To share it with — we kept it quite poised there. Obviously there was a lot of cheering for J.J., USA, and you’ve got to respect where you’re at, but Ryder Cup is right around the corner, so I completely understand. But yeah, this is going to be a fun one for us to celebrate.
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