Justin Rose is back at the Masters chasing the one prize that has eluded him, and he is doing it with a small tribute to the woman who has been beside him for more than two decades. Rose is using no. 99 golf balls in honor of Kate Rose as he tries to finally turn three runner-up finishes into a green jacket.
The number is personal. Kate’s favorite number is 9, and Rose doubled it to 99 as a nod to her. The setup is familiar for a player whose career has long been shaped by his family as much as his results. Justin and Kate first met when she was working as an assistant at IMG, and because her job took her to the tournaments he was playing in, the two eventually met properly and started dating. They have since built a life around the sport, along with son Leo, who was born in 2009, and daughter Charlotte, known as Lottie, who was born in 2012.
Kate’s own path reaches back well beyond golf. She grew up in Chiswick, London, attended the Godolphin and Latymer Upper School for Girls and graduated from the University of Sussex in 1998 with a bachelor of arts in French and Italian. While at Sussex, she was part of the women’s hockey team and the University Royal Naval Unit. Later, from 2006 to 2010, she served as a board director of the PGA Tour Wives Association, and in 2009 the couple launched the Kate and Justin Rose Foundation to support children living in poverty in Central Florida.
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Rose has spoken warmly about the role family plays in the life he and Kate have built. He has said she wants their children to feel English and has described her as a “Chiswick girl born and bred,” adding that she “gets top billing” and has “a heart of gold.” He also said the family will be based in one place for eight weeks this summer, a break from the usual travel that should make them a little less nomadic.
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That steadiness matters at a tournament where Rose has come close before but never quite finished the job. The Masters has already given him three near-misses, and this week’s story is whether experience, form and a lucky tribute to Kate Rose can finally line up at the same time.
