'The guy to watch is DeChambeau' but Justin Rose is still shaking it with the best of them

USA Today

12-04-2025

'The guy to watch is DeChambeau' but Justin Rose is still shaking it with the best of them
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Justin Rose is still shaking it with the best of them, as he likes to say.
Rose, ranked 39th in the world, showed staying power in the second round of the 89th Masters Tournament on Friday. He's more than holding his own against the younger generation.
The 44-year-old Englishman, who is a dozen years removed from his one major championship (the 2013 U.S. Open), shot 1-under-par 71 at Augusta National Golf Club to remain at the top of the leaderboard, though his rivals are gaining on him.
Rose, who opened with 65 for a three-shot lead, heads into Saturday's third round with a one-shot over Bryson DeChambeau, who shot 68. DeChambeau, the current U.S. Open champion, is one of 12 players from the LIV Golf Tour in this year's Masters.
Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, who opened with 72, roared back with 66, the low round of the day. He's two shots behind Rose. So is Canadian Corey Conners, who had 70 on Friday.
Four golfers are three shots back: defending champion Scottie Scheffler (71), Northern Ireland's Shane Lowry (68), Masters rookie Matt McCarty (68) and LIV golfer Tyrrell Hatton (70).
'The guy to watch is DeChambeau,' said Fred Couples, the 1992 Masters champion. 'DeChambeau, if it's not blowing, I think he's going to make 13 birdies the next two days. So he can offset a few bogeys with the way he plays.
"Then Rory. Look at what Rory did today. Everyone was picking on him after a couple doubles (at the end of his first round). He says, you know what, here's what I'm going to do the back nine. Did he shoot 30? 31? (It was 31). So there you go, folks.'
The bad news for the field is that DeChambeau 'found his swing' on the back nine on Saturday. He said after his opening 69 that he wasn't 'dialed in.'
Rose and DeChambeau will be off in the final group at 2:40 p.m. ET on Saturday. Rose will no doubt will be hitting first from the fairway in that group all day, since DeChambeau is averaging 331 yards off the tee and Rose is at 294.
Rose, who is 13 years older than DeChambeau, is accustomed to playing with the world's best golfers, no matter the generation. He will get a front row seat to watch DeChambeau on Saturday.
'Yeah, you know, that's the company that I expect to keep, and that's where I have tried to be my whole career,' said Rose, who won the gold medal at the 2016 Olympics. 'That's where I've been for a lot of my career. So I've been a top-10 player in the world for a decade or more. So yeah, this is nice to, obviously, yeah, be back in that mix, a hundred percent.'
Rose wasn't as sharp Friday as the first round, calling it a 'decent day.' He hit only 10 greens in regulation ― compared with 14 on Thursday ― and needed 27 putts, two more than Thursday.
'Sometimes it's hard to follow a low round with another one,' Rose said. 'Just the nature of it sometimes. But I feel like if you're playing good golf, you're playing good golf, you know. And I feel like I wasn't pinned to yesterday's round and I wasn't pinned to the leaderboard and I wasn't pinned to leading this golf tournament. Yeah, I was pretty focused on the job at hand.'
He's leading after 54 holes for the second time in his 20 trips to Augusta National. In 2004, he had weekend rounds of 81-71 to tie for 22nd, and in 2021 he shot 72-74 to finish seventh.
He's ready to bring it on home, now, better late than never.
"I think I'll take it anytime,' said Rose, who also lost a 2019 playoff here to Sergio Garcia. 'Beggars can't be choosers, you know. But I would take it right now for sure. Sometimes if it happens too early in your career, you've got a lot to live up to. I think if it happens now, I would enjoy it, I think, probably a lot more. You know, come a bit more as a gift towards the end of your career. So I think there would be a lot more satisfaction in it for sure.'
Bryson's bunker bonus boosts hopes
DeChambeau had one bogey and five birdies, including one on No. 4, where he holed out from a greenside bunker, which he called 'an unbelievable bonus.'
'Overall, today was a fantastic day of golf in some testing conditions,' DeChambeau said.
This is familiar territory for DeChambeau. He was tied for the 36-hole lead last year. He closed with 75-73 to tie for sixth.
'I'd always say, to win it takes a little bit of luck and a great amount of skill set,' DeChambeau said. 'I feel like my skill set is the same, if not a little bit better in certain aspects. So I'm just going to give it my absolute best, and whatever happens, happens. And I'm okay with whatever does happen. Because ultimately, it's not - it's not everything but it would be amazing to win. It's just more, continue to keep putting myself in positions like this. So that's really all I can say.'
Rory erases frustration from Thursday
McIlroy, in his 11th attempt to complete the Career Grand Slam with a victory in the Masters, appeared out of the picture after playing his final four holes in 4-over for 72 in the opening round. That put him in a tie for 27th place, seven shots off the lead.
Now, he's tied for third place and in the second-to-last group off the tee Saturday.
'I think overall just proud of myself with how I responded today after the finish last night,' McIlroy said. 'I just had to remind myself that I played really good golf yesterday, and you know, I wasn't going to let two ... bad holes sort of dictate the narrative for the rest of the week. ...
"Just proud of how I got back into it today.'
It will be a monumental achievement if McIlroy would go on to win. Only two champions – Nick Faldo in 1990 and Tiger Woods in 2005 – trailed by as many as seven shots after the first round and came back to win.
'Golf tournaments are so long, and there's so much that can happen, even in the next 36 holes,' McIlroy said. 'My mindset was, I shot even par yesterday. I probably need to get to somewhere between 12- and 15-under to win this tournament. You know, there was plenty of time to do that. So yeah, again, just about staying patient. … I don't think I proved anything.
"If anything, I just backed up the belief that I have in myself, and I, and the belief that I'm as resilient as anyone else out here.'
David Westin is a recipient of the Masters Major Achievement Award and has covered every tournament at Augusta National Golf Club since 1979 for The Augusta Chronicle. He also caddied at the club for a time.