As Justin Rose polished off his 13th career PGA Tour victory on Sunday at Torrey Pines, I couldn’t help but say out loud “wow, what an all-time great career this guy’s had” to no one in particular. That was followed by an immediate, intrusive thought.
“Boy, we really throw around that ‘all-time’ tag liberally.”
In fairness, that’s true. Everyone is the GOAT. Every win is the most incredible win we’ve ever seen. Hyperbole rules all. There is no more room for nuance.
The thing is, Rose has had an all-time career, one that’s nearly spanned 30 years and has featured, in addition to those tour wins, the 2013 U.S. Open, the 2016 Olympic Gold Medal, 11 DP World Tour wins and seven Ryder Cup appearances. He will be in the World Golf Hall of Fame when it’s all said and done.
But it still does feel like there is something missing from that already sparkling resume. A second major, to be more specific. And perhaps even a third or fourth. As well as he’s playing right now at 45, he may be running out of time.
Given how highly touted he was as a young amateur, and how elite he’s been for almost three decades, would his career be a disappointment if he doesn’t get one more big one? Does he need it to solidfy everything that came before it? We tackled this topic on this week’s episode of The Loop podcast, which can be heard below. Please, have a listen, and like and subscribe to The Loop wherever you get your podcasts:
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
