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Justin Rose reacts to another Masters near miss
For 10 holes of Sunday's final round of the Masters, Justin Rose felt "in control" with a two-shot lead and the "mentality to run through the finish line".
By the time he was warmly welcomed on to the 18th green a couple of hours later, the Englishman was already rueing the "chance that got away"; another opportunity to win a Green Jacket gone.
It was, sadly, all-too familiar territory for the now 45-year-old. Three times he's finished runner-up, two of those times beaten in a play-off by Ryder Cup team-mates. Eight times he's claimed a top-10 spot at Augusta.
The best player to never win a Green Jacket? Now Rory McIlroy has two, Rose has a strong claim.
Even Tyrrell Hatton, who had a fine finish to end up alongside his Ryder Cup team-mate in joint third, said "if there was anyone deserving of a Green Jacket it probably would be Rosey".
But golf is littered with hard-luck stories. Just ask Colin Montgomerie, the Scot who dominated European golf for a decade and had five runners-up finishes in the sport's biggest tournaments without ever getting over the line.
Rose at least has a 2013 US Open triumph to look fondly back on. And an Olympic gold medal from Rio in 2016. And he is clearly enjoying his mid-40s, with two other PGA Tour wins in the past eight months further demonstrating he maintains the game to compete at the highest level.
It's one of the reasons he turned down the opportunity to significantly boost his bank balance by moving to LIV Golf. He wanted to be true to his 12-year-old self, a boy "that wanted to win major championships and chase dreams".
At the time, LIV golfers could not earn world ranking points, so crucial to qualifying for the game's biggest tournaments.
"I had the opportunity and a lot of my friends have gone over there," Rose said on the No Laying Up podcast last year. "I harbour no ill feeling for guys who have made that decision at certain times in their career.
"I just felt like I had more to give myself. You have got to earn your way in this game. That's what I like about it, and I just felt like I needed that challenge and that environment to keep pushing me."
But the disappointment of Sunday's near miss was hard to mask as he described this latest close call as "a bit of a stinger".
He added that coming up short this year was more "frustrating" than his play-off defeat by Rory McIlroy 12 months ago, as the man from Northern Ireland again came through to win a second successive title.
"With a sudden-death loss, you know you got to the house," said Rose, who also lost an Augusta play-off to Sergio Garcia in 2017.
"You've done everything it took to win, then it comes down to flick of a coin at times.
"I felt there was an opportunity to do better [on Sunday]."
Rose led the field by two shots after a hat-trick of birdies from the seventh but, as so often happens at Augusta National, Amen Corner played a significant role in the outcome of the 90th staging of the year's first major.
The famed trio of holes at the lowest point of the course - actually defined as the latter half of hole 11, the short 12th, and tee shot on 13 - have seen many Masters hopes drowned in the water of Rae's Creek.
And while Rose avoided the ponds and streams that protect each of those greens, his momentum stalled with a bogey on the 11th. A fluffed chip cost him another shot on the iconic 12th.
He found the green of the par-five 13th in two, but whistled his eagle putt past the hole and failed to knock in the return.
His bid for a second major title vanished with a bogey on the 17th - an immediate and furious flick of his arm when the par putt sidled past the hole signalled he knew he was destined to miss out once again - extending the 13-year drought since his 2013 US Open triumph.
"I was really in control - the first 10 holes - and the mentality was to run through the finish line, not just try and get it done," Rose said.
"I was by no means free and clear and was nowhere close to having the job done, but I was right in position.
"I was playing great, but momentum shifted for me around Amen Corner. That three-putt was untimely for sure."
The final leaderboard shows he finished joint third, two shots adrift of the champion.
At 45 years old Rose was aiming to become the oldest first-time Masters champion.
He will be 46 in July. It's the same age that legendary champion Jack Nicklaus was when he won a record sixth Masters and 18th major title in 1986.
While Rose did not come of age in his 21st Masters, he is not giving up on his Green Jacket dream just yet.
"I'll just keep knocking on that door. See you next year, Augusta," he posted on X.
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