Justin Rose was slogging around on the front nine at 2-over Saturday when he had a heart-to-heart with his caddie, Mark Fulcher, on the No. 7 tee.
“I said, ‘Listen, we just need to be a little bit more committed,’” Rose recounted Saturday.
That ended up being sage advice as the Englishman rallied to play the next 11 holes in 6-under-par to play himself into second place in the Masters. Rose birdied on five of the last six holes to card the day’s best back nine at 31 and stand at 12-under par after his third-round 67.
As a result, Rose will play in the final grouping on Sunday of a major for the first time in his career.
“I haven’t really had a chance to think about it yet,” said Rose, who has won a U.S. Open. “Given the choice, you’d want to be in the last group. You want to be seeing what you’re up against; you want to feel the atmosphere.”
Rose earned that distinction by the slimmest of margins. Two-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson also had designs on getting into that pairing when he closed to within four strokes of the lead with a long putt for birdie on No. 16. But Mickelson gave back the stroke on the 17th and Rose rolled in a slippery 20-footer from above the hole on No. 18 to trump him for the right to play with Jordan Spieth on Sunday.
“When I made the putt that got me one ahead of Phil and get me into the final pairing, that’s going to be a big experience tomorrow, fantastic experience,” Rose said. “Jordan is playing incredible golf. It will be great to keep an eye on him and try and to sort of keep pace.”
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