Justin Rose Brings Unmatched Pedigree to His 21st Masters Appearance

Only Ben Hogan and Justin Rose have lost multiple playoffs at Augusta National. Hogan's defeats came in 1942 and 1954; Rose's in 2017 and 2025. That distinction alone defines the 45-year-old Englishman who arrives at the 90th Masters carrying three runner-up finishes and a green jacket that has so far eluded him with almost cruel precision.

Rose makes his 21st appearance when the tournament begins April 9, bringing credentials few in the 92-player field can match. He won the 2013 US Open at Merion Golf Club, the first British major champion since Nick Faldo in 1996. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, he became golf's first Olympic gold medalist in more than 100 years and holed the first ace in Olympic golf history. He reached world No. 1 in September 2018, won the FedEx Cup that same year, and added the FedEx St. Jude Championship in 2025 across 26 career victories worldwide.

Augusta, though, has withheld its greatest honor. Rose is tied with Greg Norman, Tom Watson, Johnny Miller, Tom Kite, and Raymond Floyd for the second-most runner-up finishes in Masters history, with three each.

Those near-misses span 11 years. In 2015, Rose finished T2 alongside Phil Mickelson as Jordan Spieth pulled away. In 2017, he held a two-shot lead with six holes to play before Sergio Garcia forced and won a playoff. Then came 2025: starting seven shots off the lead in the final round, Rose fired a 66 and holed a 20-foot birdie putt on the 18th to force a playoff against Rory McIlroy. On the first sudden-death hole, McIlroy hit a gap wedge to three feet and made birdie to complete the career Grand Slam.

"I think to lose in a playoff for the second time kind of punctuates both of them and makes you realize just how close you've been," Rose said. He later described himself as "tormented," telling reporters at the RBC Heritage: "Looking at my phone and just wishing there was a different message there."

The numbers behind Rose's Augusta record are almost bewildering. He has led or been tied for the lead nine times entering a final round, third in Masters history behind Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus. His 71.76 scoring average at Augusta ranks third among players with 50 to 74 career rounds there, behind only McIlroy and Hideki Matsuyama. In the past decade of Masters tournaments, he is a combined 18 under par, seventh among all competitors in that span. He is also three combined strokes from a career Grand Slam of his own, two at the 2024 Open Championship and one at the 2025 Masters.

At the 2025 Open, Rose acknowledged the weight of time: "Obviously, later in your career, you're never quite sure how many chances are going to be left. Sometimes it hurts a little bit more possibly because you know that it's not getting any easier."

McIlroy, whose victory over Rose completed the career Grand Slam, returns as defending champion. Rose, who has now stood on the 18th green to congratulate the Masters winner three times in the past decade, arrives at his 21st start with the record of a player who has been Augusta's closest companion without ever being its champion.