McEwan: Justin Rose walks the walk for women’s golf

It’s easy to talk about all that’s wrong with women’s golf. That’s why so many people do.

Whether it’s the pace of play, the prize funds, the lack of television exposure, or the scarcity of media attention, it sometimes feels as though there’s an ulterior motive to the persistent finger-pointing and tut-tutting. Hey, it’s certainly one way to build a profile…

What’s much harder is coming up with solutions. Viable, sustainable, actionable solutions.

That’s why Justin Rose deserves enormous credit.

The Englishman’s list of accomplishments is quite remarkable. Major champion, world No.1, Olympic gold medalist, Ryder Cup winner, European Tour No.1, FedEx Cup winner – Sir Nick Faldo is surely the only English male who can legitimately lay claim to a more impressive CV in the last half-century.

Now 44, Rose could be forgiven for investing more time and energy in enjoying the fruits of his labour. After more than twenty-five years at the top, he has earned the right to recline.

But that doesn’t seem to be his style, and is certainly not his intention. Instead, he is using his name, his reputation, his contacts, and yes, his money to give women’s golf some much-needed stimulus.

His attendance at last week’s Curtis Cup has been well-documented but is just the latest example of what Rose describes as “answering a call”.

“My wife was a very high-level athlete in her heyday,” he explained. “So, just listening to her story of her career, her sacrifice, all the things that you have to put to the one side to be elite at anything deserves recognition and deserves reward.

“The work ethic doesn’t change from the men’s game to the women’s game. If you want to be elite, you’ve got to put in the time and the effort and just to see it be rewarded as it was, obviously that was a reason to step up.”

Being a father of both a boy and a girl has given him pause for thought, too. “One shouldn’t get more than the other,” he reflected.

Having that perspective prompted Rose, wife Kate and the close-knit team they work with to launch the Rose Ladies Series during the pandemic.

“I felt like the PGA Tour skipped through Covid relatively easily from a getting-back-to-work point of view,” added Rose. “I think it was like three or four months and we were back out there playing. The prize funds hadn’t changed. Obviously, crowds weren’t able to come out and support but, essentially, it was business as usual.

“But that wasn’t the same across the board and certainly not in the ladies’ game. I felt that they faced some real challenges. When sponsors had the opportunity to walk, they took it and that left a lot of gaps in the schedule. That’s when I felt there was a call to action.”

Now in its fifth year, the series has established itself as almost a ‘pre-season’ for players competing on the Ladies European Tour and its satellite circuit, the Access Series. It has visited high-calibre courses such as Wentworth, West Lancs, Royal St George’s, Royal Birkdale and Hillside, paying out more than £450,000 in prize money along the way. The £10,000 cheque given to the winner of each event remains the biggest prize for a one-day competition in Britain, irrespective of gender.

The Rose Ladies Open, meanwhile, was added to the Access Series schedule in 2022. The latest renewal is taking place at Brocket Hall this week, where the field will battle for their share of the €85,000 prize fund. That’s up on the €70,000 available last year and makes it the most lucrative event on the Access Series this year. The €13,600 cheque for the winner is the biggest first prize in the circuit’s history.

If actions really do speak louder than words, Rose’s contributions to women’s golf deserve to boom and echo for a long time to come.

“It’s always been important to Kate and me to promote women’s golf and try to lead by example and push things as far forward as we can,” he adds.

“Listen, no-one’s going to retire off the Rose Ladies Series but that’s not what it’s designed or intended to be. It’s intended to be a platform to support the journey and start to tell the stories about all the young talent coming through.”

Of course, being the change you want to see in the world is one thing. Possessing sufficient sway to make it happen is another. Rose concedes there is no magic wand or silver bullet he can deploy to create parity. All he can do is his bit.

“I understand there are commercial dynamics in there,” he adds. “There are measurables that dictate prize funds and sponsorship and TV viewership and all these things. But there’s definitely a momentum swell to all that, because if you get the networks putting it on more, you get people engaging more.”

He uses the example of Annabel Dimmock winning the KPMG Women’s Irish Open last week to illustrate his point.

Dimmock laid the foundations for her victory at Carton House with a course record 65 in front of a tournament record crowd of more than 12,000 during Saturday’s third round. Her reward? A cheque for €60,000. To put that into context, her compatriot Andrew Wilson banked €64,000 on the same day for finishing ninth in the Betfred British Masters.

“I know Annabel and I’ve seen the hard work she puts in,” says Rose. “It’s a lot of effort and she’s been doing it since she was a kid. She’s been dreaming about winning tournaments and playing in majors. She’s obviously been working at it for a number of years and has had her fair share of ups and downs.

“The commitment she’s shown is exactly the same as many of her male counterparts. Obviously, you’re doing it, in essence, for a love of the game and a love of the sport, but at the elite level, you deserve to be rewarded.”

The passion with which Rose speaks about women’s golf is unmistakably sincere. He’s not crusading, he’s not virtue signalling, and he’s demonstrably not doing any of this for his own gratification. He’s doing it because it matters and because he understands his success has afforded him some measure of influence.

At a time when professional golf in a broad sense is burdened with an unflattering reputation thanks to rancour and schism on one hand, and naked, shameless greed on the other, Rose is a welcome reminder that not everybody who has their name embroidered on a staff bag is in it for themselves.

He is, in short, a wonderful ambassador for the sport.

All credit to him.

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Michael McEwan is the 2023 PPA Scotland ‘Columnist of the Year’ and ‘Writer of the Year’. Read more from him here.

Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor