Justin Rose

This week we are featuring one of the best players in the world, as a matter of fact the 8th ranked player in the world, Justin Rose. The fall season was what we have been accustomed to with Rose as his highlights included a runner-up finish at the DP World Championship, T4 at the BMW Masters, a T6 at the Hero World Challenge, T12 in Abu Dhabi, and T13 at the Qatar Masters. Then Rose came over to the PGA tour and looked miserable, as he missed the cut in his first two events (Farmers and Honda Classic). Then he was only able to muster a 55th (in a 70 player field) at the WGC Cadillac, missed the cut at Valspar and T37 at the Shell Houston Open.

Rose’s woes were apparently due to a nagging wrist injury. Then miraculously he healed and his old form surfaced at the Masters and Rose put up rounds of 67, 70, 67, and 70 to finish runner up to Jordan Spieth. The wrist injury was nowhere to be seen at The Masters, so he should be open game for rostering in fantasy golf again this year.

Rose was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and moved to England when he was five years old where he started to play golf seriously at Tylney Park Golf Club, near his then home in Hook, Hampshire. Rose broke 70 for the first time at the age of 11, and was a plus three handicap by 14. He played in the Walker Cup in 1997 as a 17-year-old. Rose struggled early in his professional 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.

Rose’s career then began to take off and he became established on the European Tour. In 2001 he opened the season with consecutive second place finishes in 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. 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.

In 2003, Rose reached number 33 in the Official World Golf Ranking. 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 2007, Rose 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.

In 2013, Rose became the first player from England to win the U.S. Open since Tony Jacklin in 1970, and the first to win any major since Nick Faldo won his third Masters in 1996. Rose won his first major title at the East Course of Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Pennsylvania by two strokes ahead of runners-up Jason Day and Phil Mickelson. He now holds 6 PGA Tour wins, including that US Open title and the Quicken Loans National last year. He had a very good 2014 as he had 8 Top 10s in 19 events played, had $3,926,768 in prize money, and finished 11th in the Fed Ex Cup Standings.

This week Justin will be playing at the Zurich Classic in New Orleans, where he has had a lot of success in the past, at least recently. Last year Rose finished 8th, in 2013 he finished 15th, and in 2012 he finished 10th. Statistically last year Rose finished 4th in Strokes Gained Tee-To-Green and 6th in Total Strokes Gained, which explains a lot of his success. So far this season, he ranks 92nd in Strokes Gained Tee-To-Green and 146th in Total Strokes Gained.
Based upon his Masters performance, Rose appears to be completely healthy and back to full strength. With his solid tournament history, we see him as a great play this week at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.