Justin Rose will attempt to defend the FedEx St Jude Championship title he won last year at TPC Southwind.
Rose pipped his good friend Tommy Fleetwood and J.J. Spaun to the FedEx St Jude Championship title 12 months ago.
The 46-year-old’s ability to remain competitive at his age over the past few years has been truly remarkable.
Justin Rose came incredibly close to winning The Masters last year and he had a two-shot lead at Augusta National heading into the back nine this year as well.
Rose missed the cut at The Open in his last tournament, but he’ll be hoping that his three-week layoff will have re-energized him.
The Englishman still has all of the tools needed to win on the PGA Tour, and despite his patchy recent form, he will be confident of contending at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
However, the humidity in Memphis this week will undoubtedly prove challenging for Rose.
Justin Rose admits he’ll try something for the first time at the FedEx St. Jude
Rose addressed the media at TPC Southwind on Tuesday ahead of the start of the FedEx St Jude Championship later this week.
The Englishman was asked how he plans on handling the heat in Memphis this week, with temperatures set to rise over 100 degrees during the four days of tournament play.
And Rose admitted that he is set to try something for the first time in his career.
“I think just staying on top of the discipline, the obvious things. Clearly hydration, I mean, that’s so obvious. I think sort of understanding that even at the beginning part of the week — just making sure by Tuesday, Wednesday, you’re already off to good habits. If you get behind on one particular day, it feels like actually it’s quite hard to catch up,“ he said.
“It’s sometimes making sure you’re ahead of the game by the time you get to the golf course. It’s not just, okay, I’m now on the golf course, let’s drink a lot of water. It’s just being ahead of things this week.
“I’m considering using a parasol, umbrella. It’s like 20 degrees cooler under the umbrella. I think especially as the week cranks up towards 100 degrees on the weekend, that might be something I will do, which is something I haven’t done before, to be honest with you, but I used it in the practice round today, and it definitely made a difference.
“There’s a little bit of breeze out there today, which kind of made it feel manageable.
“Listen, everybody’s in the same boat. It’s a long three weeks actually, as I’m talking about doing things well daily. But if you want to kind of continue your momentum through the FedExCup Playoffs, there’s a lot of discipline required this next month or so.“
That will be a smart move from Rose and, who knows? It may well enable him to perform better in the intense heat.
Justin Rose assesses his 2026 PGA Tour season so far
Rose was asked to share how he feels about his season as a whole so far in 2026.
“Yeah, got off to a great start winning early, which is always really, really nice, kind of sets momentum for the year,“ he replied.
“I had a great win and won by seven at the Farmers, which is one of my most enjoyable wins, one of my most stress-free wins on Tour. That really felt like it gave me the opportunity to have a big season.
“Felt like since then I showed elements and showed good form. Obviously the Masters, I played great golf there. That’s the one that I look back and feel like that one got away.
“Then the rest of the season, I’m kind of waiting to sort of really catch fire again. I played some good, solid golf, but I’m kind of waiting for a run. Hopefully the three weeks off that we’ve just had is a bit of a refresher now, and I can really focus on this last, final push.“
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