Justin Rose has gotten used to being the bridesmaid at Augusta. He’s not letting that heartache stop him

By Don Riddell, CNN

Augusta, Georgia (CNN) — At the Masters this week, a thought stuck in the minds of the patrons: Surely, it’s Justin time.

On a golf course where every hole is named after a flower, only one player bears the name of one, and none has been as close to full bloom at Augusta National as often as England’s Justin Rose.

“I feel like I’ve lived this before,” Rose said of his 2025 playoff defeat to Rory McIlroy, recalling a surreal sense of déjà vu as he stood on the 18^th green with a queasy ringside seat to an historic triumph, knowing that the roles could so easily have been reversed.

It was his second playoff defeat and his third runner-up finish at the Masters. He’s been close enough to taste it, close enough to feel his hand sliding into the sleeve of the iconic green jacket.

“I could see what it felt like,” he explained. “I can see the celebrations. It all played out right in front of me. So, I kind of lived it as if I’d have won it, but obviously without any of the real positive emotion that goes with that.”

Thanks to a quirk of Masters tradition, Rose’s name has been engraved onto the trophy three times as the runner-up, but he’s never held it. It’s a sequence of results that ranks him among the greats: Only Rose and Ben Hogan have lost multiple playoffs at Augusta without ever winning the tournament.

He has led or co-led the tournament after a round 11 times throughout his career, behind only Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player, who won 13 green jackets between them.

At the age of 45, Rose is playing in his 21st Masters, and after playing two rounds this week, he told CNN Sports that he isn’t feeling his age.

“I feel the same, which is good,” he said from a podium just outside the clubhouse. “If I can feel the same, I’m doing a lot of other good things because I’m not feeling older. I feel in good form, I feel in good spirits.”

Nobody has had to play more than 19 tournaments before finally winning it, and Rose is approaching the age of the tournament’s oldest champion, 46-year-old Nicklaus. But he’s never given up, and this year he’s back in the conversation again with Friday’s three-under par round of 69 for a 5-under par tournament score.

Rose has a resumé to be proud of – a US Open title, an Olympic gold medal, he’s topped the world rankings and helped the European team to five Ryder Cup wins. But he told the media at Augusta this week that he’s always taken a philosophical approach to the game, and it has clearly helped him navigate some of his biggest professional disappointments.

“I kind of realized that you can’t skip through a career without a little bit of heartache and heartbreak. No chance,” he said. “If you’re going to be willing to win them, you’ve got to be willing to kind of be on the wrong side of it as well. The key is showing up. The point is you’ve got to put yourself there. That’s the hard part.”

It’s 28 years now since Rose flirted with victory as a 17-year-old amateur at the Open Championship in 1998 and his longevity since has been remarkable. In February, he destroyed the field by seven strokes to win the Farmers Insurance Open, and he’s finished second in two of his last five major tournaments.

A key to his success is the lens through which he regards the ones that got away. Instead of forming scar tissue, he says there is only a kind of positive muscle memory.

“I hope it only boosts my belief that I can go ahead and do it,” he said, “I feel like I’ve pretty much done what it takes to win, I just haven’t walked over the line. I won’t ever think, ‘Why me?’

“I’m very aware that I’ve been close here. I’m very aware that I’ve had tough, tough losses here. I also am aware that I enjoy this place. I come here with a good attitude; it’s a place I enjoy being. It’s a very enjoyable and comfortable place to be. I don’t feel like it owes me anything.”

One might think that a man who’s tried so many times to win the Masters would have developed an obsession with it by now, but Rose knows that could be the path to destruction at Augusta.

“I’d say I’m firmly in the desire camp,” he mused, “because I know (obsession) is not going to help me. It’s probably a professional discipline just to keep it in the desire realm.”

Rose’s friend McIlroy was the one who pipped him to the green jacket last year. If the first two rounds are any indication, Rose’s moment might need to wait another year.

Another blistering round from McIlroy later on Friday afternoon means that Rose finds himself seven strokes behind the leader at the halfway stage. No matter how well he plays at the weekend, second place might be the best that he can hope for, again.

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