Justin Rose broke a four-year streak without a win on Monday by securing a three-shot victory at the 2023 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The PGA Tour’s annual stop on the Monterey Peninsula was postponed due to chaotic weather conditions, resulting in the first unscheduled Monday finish on the Tour since the 2022 Players Championship.
On Saturday afternoon high winds ended the day for all the players. To get the tournament completed, the PGA cancelled the final day for the Pro-Am and limited the field to PGA players only. Sunday morning, they completed round 3 and started the final round in the afternoon.
In the final group of the final round, Rose stumbled on the first hole with a bogey. But he was able to steady the ship and make the shot of the tournament on the par 5, sixth hole. His 230-yard second shot from the fairway bunker ended up settling 4 feet from the hole.
From there he made eagle and followed that up with a birdie on the postcard par three 7th hole. When darkness fell on Sunday, Rose marked his ball on in the fairway on the 10th hole with a two-shot lead.
On Monday morning when play resumed Rose found himself needing to make a slick 4-foot putt for par.
“It reminded me very much of the first hole yesterday where I made a soft bogey,” Rose said. “Again, it was a little cold this morning. The 9-iron didn’t go very far. The ball spun a little bit. I’m left with four and a half feet. The greens didn’t look that tremendous clean this morning either. It kind of had that feeling. So making that first four and a half-footer on the first green of the day kind of set me up for the rest of the way.”
A day later did nothing to cool the 42-year-old Englishman’s heater, with his putter leading the charge. Rose dropped in three birdies—a 26-footer at the 11th, a 20-footer at the 13th and a 10-footer at the 14th—on his first five holes. His final round total was a 6-under 66 and finish at 18 under for the tournament.
“We always know we can do it, but sometimes you got to see the proof,” Rose said. “That does make me feel good.”
This week in Monterey demonstrated Rose’s ability to perform at the highest level and excel on the big stage. Despite requiring an extra day to secure the win, Rose’s confidence in his abilities proved to be well-founded as his gamble paid off.
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