28 years since crashing Open, Rose keeps going
Teenage wonder at 1998 Open remains factor at nearly 46; Rahm, gambling & other notes
Justin Rose, 45, signs autographs ahead of his fourth Open start at Royal Birkdale (Kate McShane /R&A via Getty Images)
SOUTHPORT, England — There are five players in the Open field this week who played at Royal Birkdale in the 1998 edition won by Mark O’Meara. All but one of them is in their 50s, which you almost have to be in order to have competed in more than a third of the now 11 Opens played at this course which was first used in 1951.
Justin Rose, who turns 46 at the end of July, was just 17 years old when he finished fourth at Royal Birkdale 28 years ago, setting in motion a somewhat remarkable start to his career.
Rose did so by holing a pitch shot from off the 18th green on Sunday, setting off a frenzy of adulation. O’Meara defeated Brian Watts in a playoff. A guy named Tiger Woods finished third ahead of Rose.
“This is the third time I’ve been back to Birkdale since ’98, so obviously it’s always going to be a special place for me at Royal Birkdale,” Rose said of his pending fourth Open start on the English links. “It’s always going to sort of bring back those memories of that kid chipping in and all the magical feelings I experienced that week of the crowd getting behind me, sort of a true underdog story.
“The fact that it was my last event as an amateur, holing that shot to seal off my amateur career was as cool a moment as I could have had.”
Also in today’s DD …
Jon Rahm just wants more Sunday opportunities to win majors
Players sound concerns about gambling’s influence in golf tournaments
Notes from the tee sheet and regarding the slightly elevated Open purse
DD Podcast with Bob Harig, BBC’s Iain Carter and host Jason Powers
Don’t miss the morning DD with heralding Jordan Spieth’s return to Birkdale
This is just the 11th Open to be played at Royal Birkdale, meaning Rose will join Stewart Cink, Pádraig Harrington and David Duval as players in the field who have competed in four Opens here. Darren Clarke also played here in 1998 but he missed the 2008 tournament.
The thing all four of the others have in common? They’ve won the claret jug. Rose never has and has added just three top-10 finishes since that epic teenage moment all those years ago, including a tie for second two years ago when Xander Schauffele won at Royal Troon.
The fact Rose is here again without the lifetime winner’s exemption is a testament to his continued productivity. The 2013 U.S. Open champion has missed the tournament just once since 2007. He’s ranked 10th in the Official World Golf Ranking in his mid-40s.
“I feel like I’m really enjoying the challenge of staying elite with my game,” Rose said. “I’m really enjoying the opportunities and the moments I’m creating and the memories I’m creating through those moments. That’s kind of my driver, whether that be holing a putt on a Friday at Ryder Cup or having chances to win major championships.
“It does come down to results at the end of the day, but also in the moment really, a result is fantastic. Scottie Scheffler might have said this last year, maybe at this tournament, that you sort of do look at yourself a week or two later, and you’re suddenly into the next stretch of tournaments, and that result — you can’t be defined or live and die by the result.
“So I’m trying to see it as moments. Am I playing golf for the right moments? Am I creating memories? And are those memories worth the sacrifice? Because as I get older, I think it’s taking more of me. I’m having to be more disciplined than I’ve ever been to stay at the level of golf I want to be at, and I’m enjoying that challenge. I feel like I can keep pushing. I feel like I can keep going with that narrative as long as possible.
“Certainly in the moment I feel inspired. I’m enjoying that challenge.”
Rose continues to push himself as an OWGR top-10 player at almost 46 (Oisin Keniry/R&A via Getty Images)
Rose has 13 PGA Tour victories and counts 11 on the DP World Tour. But perhaps his greatest feat is overcoming a horrific start to his career.
The plan was always to turn pro in the summer of 1998 — with his 18th birthday looming after his Open debut — as he had accepted sponsor invites to several European Tour events. Rose said he never truly considered college golf, a decision that might have been different in modern times.
So he headed to the pro ranks — and then missed the cut in his first 21 professional events.
Justin Rose’s last amateur shot was a hole-out to finish fourth in 1998 Birkdale Open (Paul Vicente/AFP via Getty Images)
“There was a moment in time where — I never wanted to regret having holed that shot, but I think that shot made my transition into pro golf a little bit harder just from an expectation point of view,” Rose said. “A bunch of missed cuts into it, I felt like you had to take stock, and I had to sort of really evaluate who I was, what my goals were, how realistic they might be.
“I think really to sort of separate myself from the result at the Open Championship to kind of put a clear head on my shoulders and kind of grind through and realize a career is a long time. My basic and very simple equation was, yeah, I was a talented golfer, had a great amateur career. It wasn’t like the Open was the only thing I could hinge my future on. If I look back at my whole amateur career, it was strong.
“So I clearly said to myself, right, you’re a talented golfer; you couple that with hard work and just stick at it. I had to separate myself from the Open week but put myself into hard work and believe I was good enough.”
Rose has proven to be plenty good. He’s a major champion (2013 at Merion) and an Olympic gold medalist (2016 in Brazil). He’s also played on seven European Ryder Cup teams, five times on the winning side.
There are no trophies for it, but longevity is to be admired as well.
On the podcast, DD’s Bob Harig and BBC golf correspondent Iain Carter discuss the 154th Open at Royal Birkdale. Topics include …
Royal Birkdale and the links strategies players face this week
The warm, dry weather and how it creates a fiery test
History of the Open Championship and Europe’s love for the event
The uncertainty of LIV Golf moving forward
Jon Rahm aims to get in the mix at Birkdale after missing his last two cuts (Stuart Franklin/R&A via Getty Images)
Rahm just looking for more chances at majors
The narrative surrounding LIV Golf players and their performances in the major championships is a complicated one. On the surface, it appears that they have, for the most part, fared worse since joining LIV Golf.
There are outliers, of course. Brooks Koepka won the 2023 PGA Championship at Oak Hill as a LIV member and nearly won the Masters the same year. Bryson DeChambeau had a strong run in the majors in 2024-25, winning the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurt and posting several top 10s.
Is DeChambeau’s three missed cuts in majors this year reflective of something with LIV Golf? Or simply the normal course of the game that might see any player struggle at any given time.
Then there is Jon Rahm, who won the 2021 U.S. Open and the 2023 Masters, bolting later that year to sign with LIV Golf.
Prior to his departure at the end of 2023, Rahm had two wins, eight top-fives and 12 top-10s in 27 major starts as a pro,
Since he left for LIV? There have been four top-10s in 10 major appearances with two missed cuts including last month at Shinnecock. He also withdrew from another major before it began with a foot injury. His closest call was probably the tie for second at this year’s PGA Championship at Aronimink, although he was right in contention until the final holes at last year’s PGA at Quail Hollow.
Asked if he’s getting impatient, Rahm said: “No. No. It’s — how to describe it would
