Justin Rose stood over a short-sided chip on the back side of the 4th green at Augusta National on Masters Saturday and turned it into another shot at the lead. The ball rolled to tap-in range, and a round that began with two pars and a birdie kept moving toward the chase.
Rose was six under for the tournament and six shots back of Rory McIlroy at that point, but he finished Saturday with four birdies and no bogeys to close within three shots of the lead heading into Sunday. It was the kind of charge Augusta National has tolerated, if not encouraged, from him for years, and it came from a player who has spent much of the past four seasons among the best in the world.
The 4th hole showed why Rose keeps drawing this place into his story. He had a lightning-fast slope, a short-sided chip and almost no margin, yet the shot stayed on line and saved the moment. That kind of recovery fits Augusta National as well as it fits Rose, who has long been one of the game’s most reliable contenders here without ever winning the Masters.
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The pressure is not new. At the 2025 Masters, Rose pushed Rory McIlroy to a playoff after making six birdies and two bogeys over his final eight holes, a late surge that carried him to the edge of a title he still does not own. He will begin Sunday three shots off the lead, still in position, still searching, and still playing the sort of golf that keeps bringing him back to Augusta with the same question attached to his name.
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Rose has said the week changes once the tournament starts, describing Monday through Wednesday as the time to enjoy the experience and the rest of the week as the part when every shot carries high risk and high reward. On Saturday, that tradeoff worked in his favor. On Sunday, it will ask for one more round of the same precision before the Masters gives him anything back.
