It is a mark of how successful a golfer Justin Rose has become that a year when he claimed two more European Tour titles and earned more than €4,000,000 will likely be remembered more for the two second places that bookended his season.
The first was unforgettably at Augusta National, and a second runner-up finish in the Masters Tournament in the space of three seasons. The emotions of Sergio Garcia finally joining Rose in the Major Champions’ club were merely magnified by the grace and sportsmanship the Englishman showed in accepting his play-off defeat.
Fast forward seven months and Rose had another near miss, this time in the season-long Race to Dubai. A valiant closing charge, aided by back-to-back wins in late season events in China and Turkey, put the 37 year old in with a chance of claiming the title for the second time but ultimately Rose had to settle for second place behind Tommy Fleetwood, again accepting his lot with rare and touching dignity.
In pure financial terms, 2017 amounted to Rose’s most successful season ever, putting even 2007 – when he won twice, finished second three times and had four further top tens on his way to the Order of Merit top spot – in the shade. He is among the handful of star golfers in the game, currently ranked sixth best in the world, and coming off the back of what, for most players, would be regarded as a career year.
And yet, that sense of what might have been is hard to escape.
Augusta could still define Rose’s career. In 12 visits to the iconic Georgian club, he has never missed the cut, finishing in the top ten on five occasions. Never, though, has he been closer to donning the iconic Green Jacket than this year.
Rose’s runner-up finish in 2015 in truth lacked the drama of ever really being in contention as Jordan Spieth strolled to a dominant wire-to-wire victory but this year, sharing the lead going into the final round, the celebratory scenes inside the Butler Cabin felt well within his grasp.
The drama of the fourth round will live long in the memory. Garcia opened up a three-shot lead by the fifth hole but Rose responded, reeling off three straight birdies to tie the scores. Level at the turn.
Now it was the Spaniard’s turn to wobble. Bogeys on the tenth and 11th holes left all the momentum with Rose but the tale did not end there. Birdie on 14 for Garcia was followed by an eagle and the top two were level again with three holes to play.
First blood went to Rose. Both players put their tee shots on 16 to within ten feet but after Rose holed for birdie, Garcia had to settle for par. On the following hole, it was the Englishman’s par putt that stayed high – all square playing the last.
You've got to be willing to lose them, you've got to put yourself out there - there's a lot of pressure out there but I loved it
With the steeliest of nerves, both men split the fairway. Both found the green in two, with makeable chances for birdie. Rose’s was fractionally longer and, to his disbelief, did not turn down the hill at the death. Garcia’s putt, to win that elusive Major, suffered the same fate. 18 holes would not be enough to settle his great duel – a play-off was required.
And it was now that Rose faltered. Whether through nerves or fatigue, a blocked tee shot left him in the pine straw and unable to reach the green. He took his medicine, chipped out, on in three. But the par putt did not drop and Rose cleared the stage for his Ryder Cup team-mate to vanquish his Major demons at long last, Garcia cueing up emotional scenes by rolling in his birdie putt.
“Sergio is obviously the best player not to have won a Major, but no longer,” he said. “It's great any time one of those types of players, there's a handful of them, any time one of those guys gets that huge monkey off their back, I think it makes it a poignant Major Championship.
“It's going to sting for sure but you know, I really feel like this is a tournament that I can still go on to win. I'd like to win three or four Green Jackets but one would be enough. I just want to win here.
“At the end of the day, you're going to win Majors and you're going to lose Majors but you've got to be willing to lose them. You've got to put yourself out there. You've got to hit the top of the leaderboard.
“There's a lot of pressure out there and if you're not willing to enjoy it, then you're not ready to win these tournaments. I loved it out there.”
A relatively quiet summer followed, the highlight of which was a share of fourth place in Ireland, before Rose exploded back to his best form in the autumn, starting in China.
The WGC-HSBC Champions looked like a foregone conclusion after 54 holes, with Dustin Johnson, as so often in the WGC events, rediscovering his relentless brand of golf to take a six-shot lead into the final round.
Rose was not even among the leading chasers, sitting a further two shots back, but as Johnson faltered down the stretch, the Englishman took just 31 strokes for his last nine holes, setting the clubhouse target at 14 under par which no one could match.
Suddenly a second Race to Dubai title was back in touch. Up to fourth in the rankings, Rose flew straight to Antalya for the Turkish Airlines Open, part of the newly-founded Rolex Series.
Once again, there was late drama. Rose and playing partner Nicolas Colsaerts were two shots behind the leaders at the start of play but arrived on the 18th tee in a share of the lead on 17 under par, with Dylan Frittelli already in the clubhouse on that mark.
A birdie to win. Colsaerts had just made three in a row, while Rose had already found six of his own in another outstanding Sunday outing. Much like at Augusta, both men played a perfect hole tee to green, each looking at around eight feet for birdie.
Colsaerts missed. Rose did not.
“It's like a bus, you wait ages for one and then two turn up at once,” he joked about the first back-to-back titles of his career, before looking ahead.
“It's exciting to be within touching distance but I didn't quite fully anticipate being so close to Tommy. I just know I need to go and play well in Dubai and that's been my mentality from the outset and is not going to change.”
And so to Dubai for the DP World Tour Championship. For a while, the script looked like it was written. A 65 on Moving Day gave Rose a one-shot lead and in control of his own destiny.
However, the final day did not go as planned, with three back nine bogeys dropping the Englishman to three shots behind eventual winner Jon Rahm.
It seems hard to believe, but one shot would have made all the difference. Even a closing birdie could not quite do the job. Needing outright fourth to overtake Fleetwood and win the Race to Dubai, Rose finished tied with three players in fourth place.
Two of those men were from South Africa, where Rose was born – Dean Burmester and Frittelli. The other player? Garcia. A delicious piece of symmetry to end a glorious year for Rose that feels destined, perhaps unfairly, to be remembered more for the big prizes that so narrowly eluded him.
It will also be remembered for the major role he played in some of the most enduring and dramatic golfing contests of this or any other year.
And he will be back. “If you’re not willing to enjoy it, you’re not ready to win these tournaments.” Rose is relishing the hunt and the pressure. Roll on 2018.
