Walk up 18 at Torrey was special for Justin Rose, whose caddie was in hospital when he won the 2019 Farmers

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[Photo: Icon Sportswire]

There was a celebration before the celebration during Justin Rose’s triumphant walk up the 18th hole at Torrey Pines today in his seven-shot victory in the Farmers Insurance Open.

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As the CBS cameras followed Rose and his caddie, Mark “Fooch” Fulcher, the two exchanged laughs and a message into the camera for the golfer’s one-time caddie, Gareth Lord. It was Lord who was on Rose’s bag in 2019 when the Englishman won his first title at Torrey Pines. At the time, Fulcher watched the proceedings from a hospital bed, having undergone mitral valve surgery on his heart that January.

“I think we were just trying to have a little bit of banter and make light of the fact, ‘Hey, Lordie, I hope you’re watching now because now it’s Fooch’s turn to be walking down the 18th with me here at Torrey,’” Rose said in the winner’s news conference.

As Rose fashioned a historic victory in which he set the tournament’s 36, 54 and 72-hole scoring records, ultimately finishing at 23-under-par, he said he never brought up the past with Fulcher – until the end.

After recovering from the surgery, Fulcher returned to loop for Rose at the 2019 Masters, but soon after announced that he’d be taking leave. Rose won twice in the interim before he and Fulcher reunited at the 2023 Ryder Cup, and together they won the 2025 FedEx St Jude Championship in the PGA Tour playoffs. Among the victories for which Fulcher has been on Rose’s bag are his 2013 US Open win and gold medal performance in the 2016 Summer Olympics.

“I think that win,” Rose said of the 2019 Farmers, “was always a tough one for Fooch – not fighting for his life, but he was in a pretty bad way in the hospital and seeing us kind of cruise to victory and, you know, hugging Lordie on the 18th green.

“Nearly had to have another procedure after that, I think,” Rose added with a chuckle.

“It was in my head all [this] week, Wouldn’t be it nice to win with Fooch here? It was totally unsaid until across the water on 18. I was, like, that was fun to enjoy that with him.”