Justin Rose - Professional Career

Professional Career

After turning professional, Rose struggled badly in his early career. He missed the cut in his first 21 consecutive events. He earned his first European Tour card in 1999 when he finished 4th at the qualifying school. The following season he failed to retain his card, and had to revisit the qualifying school, where he finished 9th.

Despite his early career struggles, Rose's career soon began to take off and he became established on the European Tour. In 2001 he opened the season with consecutive second place finishes in the country of his birth, South Africa. He went on to finish the year in top 40 on the Order of Merit. He won his first professional event, the Dunhill Championship in South Africa, in 2002, and followed this up with three further victories in that year. They included another win in South Africa at the Nashua Masters, a win on the Japanese Golf Tour at the Crowns Tournament, and then he won his second European Tour title at the Victor Chandler British Masters, edging out Ian Poulter in the final round. In 2003, he reached number 33 in the Official World Golf Rankings. He earned enough money to claim his PGA Tour card as a non-member for 2004 after finishing with more money than the 125th ranked player on the money list. In 2004, he played mostly in America on the PGA Tour, while also maintaining his membership on the European Tour. He did not have a great year and slipped out of the top 50 in the world rankings, however he kept his tour card after earning in excess of a million dollars.

His ranking continued to fall in early 2005, and in March he announced that he was quitting the European Tour and concentrating on playing on the PGA Tour. This had no apparent effect on his poor form, and by the middle of the year he had fallen out of the World's Top 100. In August of that year he made an about face by announcing his intention to return to the European Tour. Later the same week he had his best result of the year, leading the Buick Championship after three rounds before slipping to a third place finish. A couple of further good results followed late in the 2005 season, and he maintained his status on the PGA Tour after all.

In September 2006 at the Canadian Open, Rose led a PGA Tour tournament going into the final round for the first time. But he slipped up with a final round 74 which moved him down the field. He went on to finish 2nd at the Valero Texas Open and finished 47th on the money list with US$1.629 million in prize money. In November 2006 he won the Australian Masters, to claim his first title for four years. His renewed consistency, including a top 5 finish at the 2007 Masters which had seen him surpass his previous best world ranking, by reaching number 26 on 8 April 2007.

Rose lost in a playoff at the 2007 BMW PGA Championship, but moved into the top twenty of the World Rankings for the first time, and by October had reached a new career high of 12 and became the top-ranked British golfer. Rose won the European Tour Order of Merit title for 2007 in a thrilling climax to the season at the Volvo Masters, which he won in a playoff on 4 November. His new world ranking of number 7 made him the top-ranked European golfer for the first time, and he subsequently moved up to sixth in the rankings. He has spent over 35 weeks in the top-10 since 2007. Since the end of 2009, Canadian golf instructor Sean Foley coaches Rose.

In 2010, Rose had a third place at the Honda Classic, and then he broke through with a victory at the Memorial Tournament with a final round 66 to win by three strokes over Rickie Fowler. This was his first win on American soil. The next day, Rose had to try to qualify for the U.S. Open, along with runner up Rickie Fowler. Neither qualified which raised questions about the qualifications of the U.S. Open. In his first tournament start since his win, at the Travelers Championship two weeks later, Rose led by three shots entering the final round, but fell away to a tie for ninth. His good form continued in the following week's tournament however, where he led by four shots after three rounds, and shot a final-round even par 70 to win his second PGA Tour event – the AT&T National.

In March 2011, Rose had a chance to add to his two PGA Tour titles won in 2010, when he entered the final round at the Transitions Championship with a one stroke lead. However he shot a three-over-par 74, which included four consecutive bogeys in the middle of the round, to finish five shots behind the champion Gary Woodland. In September 2011, Rose won the BMW Championship, the third of the four FedEx Cup playoff events at Cog Hill Golf & Country Club. This was his first title of the year and third career PGA Tour win. Rose entered the week on the playoff bubble at 34th in the standings, knowing that he needed a good finish to make the final event at East Lake Golf Club. The win elevated him to 3rd in the standings and the position of knowing that if he won the Tour Championship he would be the FedEx champion. A flawless round of 63 on the opening day helped Rose to build a four stroke advantage going into the final round, and even though there was a late wobble with a bogey at the par five 15th, Rose recovered and won by two strokes from John Senden. Rose did not enjoy the same success at the Tour Championship though, when a second round 75 ended his chances of winning. He finished the tournament in a tie for 20th place and 5th on the overall FedEx Cup Standings.

In 2012, Rose won his first World Golf Championship event at the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral Golf Resort & Spa, when he finished one stroke ahead of American Bubba Watson. He entered the final round with a three stroke deficit from Watson, but after a solid final day's play, he took a two stroke advantage down the notoriously difficult par 4 18th finishing hole. He made bogey however after finding the right rough with his tee shot and could not get up and down from the back of the green. This left Watson requiring a birdie on the hardest hole on the course in the final group behind Rose. Watson hit a tremendous iron shot from the right hand rough to within ten feet, but could not make the resulting putt, leaving Rose to celebrate the biggest win of his career. As a result Rose returned to the world's top ten, re-entering at number seven.

At the 2012 PGA Championship, Rose recorded his best ever performance in a major championship with a tie for 3rd finish. He shot a final round of 66 to jump 22 places up the leaderboard after three previous rounds of 69-79-70.

At the 2012 Ryder Cup, Rose played a major part in Team Europe's dramatic comeback against the United States, holing putts of 10, 35 and 12 feet on the final three holes to defeat Phil Mickelson 1-up in the singles and completing Europe's domination of the first five matches.

On 12 October 2012, Rose won the 8-man Turkish Airlines World Golf Final defeating Lee Westwood by a single stroke in the final. He also beat Tiger Woods by a stroke in the semi final, after progressing from his group with a 100% record.