Justin Rose is attracting plenty of attention as he prepares to use his new McLaren Golf clubs for the first time at this week’s Cadillac Championship.
The 45-year-old Englishman will be using the clubs as the PGA Tour returns to Doral’s Blue Monster Course in Miami.
The 2013 US Open champion has become McLaren’s first tour professional as the Formula 1 team enter the golf market.
Rose’s McLaren Connection Runs Deep
Rose had been quietly fostering a relationship with the McLaren team that was much deeper than merely befriending golf-mad driver Lando Norris and CEO Zak Brown.
Brown was looking to diversify and join the golf manufacturer market, and Rose was his vehicle.
The Miami Grand Prix is in town, not far from Doral, and it seems the ideal moment to announce this unlikely business and sporting relationship.
“It’s something I’ve been involved with from the outset – helping the engineering team, really testing the very first editions of the club,” said Rose.
“I’ve been kind of working with the project for well over a year probably. It’s been exciting to this week finally launch it.”
Rose Aims to “Mitigate Risk” with New Clubs
Rose fans are entitled to be fearful, as many a golf career has hit buffers with a lucrative shift to a new manufacturer, Rose’s included.
He was the Olympic champion and a recent world number one when he signed with Japanese firm Honma.
He posted a victory soon after the deal in 2019 but did not win again on the PGA Tour for four years.
After extricating himself from the deal, Rose went it alone until signing with McLaren.
“I’m looking to mitigate risk,” he said.
“I’ve done this once before in 2019 and I learned a lot from that process. So I feel a bit better placed now to go down this path.”
Early Performance Data Encourages Rose
All professional golfers who move manufacturers speak highly of their new equipment. Rose is no different.
“I’m looking at some of the performance data that I’m getting on the range and [it is] out-performing what I have. That’s the exciting part for me,” he said.
Rose will play with McLaren irons and is likely to use the more forgiving game-improver versions at the long end of the bag and blades for the rest.
This is not as risky as changing his entire set-up.
Driver, putter and ball are usually the most crucial elements, so the move is not as drastic as it might appear.
Rose was always likely to attract plenty of attention at this week’s Cadillac Championship.