Justin Rose is once again in position to add a longed-for second major title to his impressive resume, and the 44-year-old Englishman says there’s no “secret recipe” to what he’ll need to do to win the Masters.
“If it was a secret recipe, you’d know it by now,” Rose said after firing a one-under par 71 that left him one clear atop an impressive leaderboard after the second round. “But it’s just about playing great golf.
“And I think the leaderboard is stacking up very favorably for what looks like world-class players right up there. So you’re going to have to play great golf, and you’re going to have to out there and want it and go for it and get after it.
“It’s as simple as that, really,” said Rose, who led US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau by one stroke, with four-time major winner Rory McIlroy two adrift alongside Canadian Corey Conners. Defending champion Scottie Scheffler headed a group three off the lead on five-under.
Rose, a former world number one and European Ryder Cup star who earned Olympic gold in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, has sought in vain to add a second major to the US Open title he captured in 2013.
He’s come close, falling in a playoff to Sergio Garcia at the 2017 Masters — two years after he tied for second at Augusta National.
His appetite for more major glory was whetted last year when he surged into contention at the PGA Championship at Valhalla before finishing tied for sixth.
He then came through qualifying for the Open Championship and briefly topped the leaderboard before finishing two strokes behind winner Xander Schauffele.
“Sometimes you’ve just got to knock on the door,” Rose said. “I don’t think I can do anything differently.
“On both those occasions, especially Valhalla, I actually made a run into contention there, which is great. Got more and more comfortable as I got further and further up the leaderboard, too, which was really good for me to know because there had not been a ton of opportunity for the previous couple of years.”
Rose is a familiar name on the Masters leaderboard, where an impressive seven-under 65 on Thursday saw him hold the first-round lead for the fifth time.
He followed up with a one-under 71 on a “decent day” that went flat toward the end as he failed to take advantage of two back-nine par-fives and bogeyed the 14th and 17th.
“Made two good swings on 14 and 17, but just misjudgements on the conditions and the wind,” Rose said. “Those two fives could have been two birdie putts quite easily and would have changed the complexion of the round a little bit.
“Overall, under par, in a great position going into the weekend.”
While Rose says he’s eager to make the most of the “Indian Summer” of his career, he said he doesn’t dwell on the fact that it’s been a dozen years since he won a major.
“I feel like there’s been other sort of great accomplishments in that time,” he said. “I think winning the Olympic Gold Medal gave me a lot of satisfaction in that interim period, getting to world number one, winning the FedExCup.
“I think really big milestone moments in my career have happened in that 12 years, which distracts you from the fact that you haven’t won a major in that period.”
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