Justin Rose still battling Father Time ahead of FedEx St. Jude Championship defense

During the final round of the 2025 FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind, the 205-yard, par-3 14th hole yielded just two birdies all afternoon – and 23 all week. That's exactly where Justin Rose, the oldest player in the field, stood facing a three-shot deficit, chasing Tommy Fleetwood.

Nobody figured a comeback would start on the hole that had chewed up the field all day – a par 3 that produced 55 bogeys against two birdies on Sunday.

Rose knows how to win under pressure. He's a major champion, having won the 2013 U.S. Open at Merion Golf Club, an Olympic gold medal at the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics and 11 PGA TOUR titles heading into the week.

But to make the comeback that much more unlikely, the 45-year-old Rose had been winless for nearly two and a half years. His last victory came in 2023 at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, although he remained competitive during that stretch, which featured a runner-up finish at the 2024 The Open Championship and five top-10 finishes in 2025.

On the 14th, he stuck his tee shot pin high, 15 feet left of the cup, with a solid 6-iron. He'd parred the hole Thursday and Friday, bogeyed it Saturday. Sunday was different.

"I hit a whole 6-iron to that back-right pin,” Rose said after the round. “That was a pretty clutch shot, I suppose, to sort of take that one on and to pull it off. That sort of then gave me the little bit of momentum I needed at that time in my round."

It was also the first putt he'd seen fall all day.

"I tried to tell myself out there today – the theory of large numbers," Rose said. "If the putts are drying up and if you keep your routine the same and if you keep doing everything the same, over time, you're going to have your fair share go in."

His 15-footer barely moved left to right, slowing as it neared the hole before tumbling in. Rose climbed to 13 under.

That birdie sparked a four-hole stretch that flipped the tournament.

On the par-4 15th, Rose and playing partner Fleetwood both stuffed their approaches inside 10 feet and made birdie. On the par-5 16th – the easiest hole on the course, with a 4.402 scoring average – neither hit a great approach, but Rose got up-and-down from a bunker for his third straight birdie. Fleetwood made par.

The three-shot gap was down to one.

Rose striped his tee shot on 17 down the center, stuck an 8-iron from 188 yards to 22 feet and buried a firm left-to-right putt to tie the lead at 16 under.

That lead belonged to reigning U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun, who'd made back-to-back birdies on Nos. 16 and 17. Fleetwood couldn't keep pace after an untimely bogey on No. 17 and finished third.

All Rose needed on No. 18 was a fifth straight birdie to complete the improbable comeback.

Step 1: a 326-yard drive down the middle. Check.

Step 2: an approach to 15 feet. Check.

One putt stood between Rose and tasting victory for the first time in two and a half years. He missed it, closing with a 3-under 67 to force a playoff with Spaun.

The two matched each other with a par and a birdie over the first two playoff holes, both on No. 18. On the third, still the 18th, both hit brilliant approaches – and this time Rose finished the job, rolling in a birdie to win his 12th PGA TOUR title.

"I stayed really calm with it all," Rose said. "It was quite a calm win, even though when I look back at it, it was fireworks."

The victory moved Rose to No. 9 in the Official World Golf Ranking, his first appearance in the top 10 since February 2020, and locked in his spot on the European Team for the 2025 Ryder Cup. At 45 years and 11 days old, he became the TOUR's oldest winner since 2021.

"I still feel like there is that golden summer of my career available to me," Rose said. "This is another really important signal that I'm on the right track with my game, and actually maybe even getting a little bit better at the moment."

Rose returns to Memphis in 2026 a year older, a bit wiser and looking to pick up right where he left off.

Father Time is still waiting. So far, Rose hasn't let him win.