FARMINGDALE, N.Y. (AP) — Justin Rose should know as well as any European the challenge of trying to win a Ryder Cup away from home before a hostile crowd. It wasn't until his third Ryder Cup that he got
to experience the comforts of home.
This is an experienced European team, and that starts with Rose. At age 45, he is the oldest player for Team Europe whose first Ryder Cup was in 2008. All but two players for Europe were out of secondary school by then.
“Elder statesman, as I've been called,” Rose said Wednesday.
He is playing in his seventh Ryder Cup. Rory McIlroy has played one more than Rose. Both are integral parts of a European team that can lead inside the rope, neither of them thinking they are more important than any of the other 10 players. That's what makes Europe tick.
They have been mixing and matching pairings throughout the week at Bethpage Black, some pairings obvious and others maybe not so much. They have 11 of the 12 players back from the winning team in Italy two years ago, a continuity that has never happened in a Ryder Cup.
“There's not really a need for me to be able to — or to have to — put my arm around anybody,” Rose said. “And I think the fact that we are 11 out of 12 returning players is an amazing thing.”
But it's players like Rose who have played a key role over the years. It was Graeme McDowell in 2014 who was joined at the hip with Ryder Cup rookie Victor Dubuisson in France. Lee Westwood made his debut in 1997 with Nick Faldo at his side.
Rose — also the oldest European in the 2023 matches — was put with Ryder Cup rookie Robert MacIntyre in Rome and they were unbeaten in two matches. One of those was a crucial halve when Rose holed an 8-foot birdie putt.
“I get a lot of credit for that,” Rose said of his influence on the young Scotsman. "Whether I did or didn't, I don't know. But ultimately to be the best leader is by being the best version of yourself and leading by example. So that’s why I felt like at the last Ryder Cup, essentially, I just had to remember all the things that work for me and lead by example.
“I guess it helped me more than it helped Bob.”
That he is back for a seventh Ryder Cup speaks to Rose looking at age as a mere number. He was a captain's pick for the first time for Marco Simone. Players never know when it will be their time in the Ryder Cup.
And then he picked it up this year, challenging briefly at Pebble Beach, famously getting into a playoff at the Masters before losing to McIlroy, and then beating U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun in the PGA Tour's first FedEx Cup playoff event.
He is No. 14 in the world. He does not appear to be going anywhere, at least not yet.
“I'm still enthusiastic about my game and I still want to be a contributing member of the team in the greatest way possible, which is earning points, and not just here for wisdom and things like that,” Rose said.
“But I celebrate the differences in our team, and I think that’s obviously what Team Europe is all about,” he said. “We come from different places, different cultures, different backgrounds, and I think celebrating that’s important.”
Legacy is everything to Europe and there is a lot of recent history. Captain Luke Donald has dressed them in colors all week of what previous teams were wearing on Sunday when Europe won the Ryder Cup on U.S. soil.
Wednesday's offering was the cream yellow from Oakland Hills in 2004.
Each team had different players, different personalities, and Tommy Fleetwood sees that trend even with so many familiar faces.
There was a transition from the last Ryder Cup in the U.S., at Whistling Straits in 2021, the final appearance of stalwarts like Westwood and Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia and Paul Casey. All of them were in their 40s, and all of them jumped over to Saudi-funded LIV Golf.
“I’ve always been made so aware of the legacy that is Team Europe,” Fleetwood said. “We’re sort of carrying that right now.”
So what to make of Rose?
“Justin has always been someone I’ve been close to and looked up to in the way he conducts himself, in the way he goes about his game,” Fleetwood said. "He doesn’t need to raise his voice or speak loudly or be the motivating force in terms of that. He’s there, he has plenty of words of wisdom, and he leads by example in how he prepares himself and conducts himself on the golf course. I feel lucky that I've been able to spend so much time with him.
“Yeah, he isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, I don’t think.”
___
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
