Justin Rose dismisses equipment worries before PGA Championship: "Don't think it's a big deal"

Justin Rose says his recent downturn in form has absolutely nothing to do with his new irons. 

The Englishman, 45, heads into the PGA Championship at Aronimink Golf Club in Pennsylvania as a trendy pick to contend for the Wanamaker Trophy. 

That is owing to a late career resurgence that has seen him rise back inside the top five of the world rankings, contend twice at the Masters and help Europe to back-to-back Ryder Cup victories. 

But the former U.S. Open champion is facing a touch of scrutiny over his decision to switch to McClaren irons last month when the major season is just getting going. 

Rose finished over par at the Cadillac Championship and in a share of 45th in the 72-man field at Quail Hollow last week. 

Equipment changes tend to take time to adjust to and some have suggested that at his age he doesn't have time to do such things when he seemed to be dialled in with his game. 

But he dismissed the notion that his equipment change is a risk. 

"I've played so many different sets of irons in the last five years that I just don’t think [switching irons] is a big deal,” he said.

“I've been working hard on this project for 18 months now, and it’s kind of like it’s a full wish list of all of the things I would like to see in a set of irons.

“I've enjoyed the process of getting to this point. I would love to play great this week with them. I can play great this week with them.

"The fact I haven’t played great the last two weeks has got nothing to do with the irons either.

"The testing process is an interesting one. You go through it, but not until you put something in play do you kind of have the time or the real ability to get comfortable with it.

"So, yeah, it might take a little bit of time to get fully, fully, fully comfortable just looking at something different, but yeah, it’s been a very measured approach and something I'm very excited about and something I've really, really enjoyed doing."

Rose has been involved in the project from the start and claimed he is seeing "more performance in my range sessions". 

"The spin and the launch and the speed and all the stuff I'm seeing on the range is performance, and I'm seeing the performance. he added.

"So whether I take it out onto the golf course, there's 14 other clubs, 14 clubs in my bag, six or seven of them are irons, there's a lot of other things that I need to do to play well.

"My focus is on all areas of my game, and I'm excited to compete and play well this week."

Masters was a tough loss

For the second consecutive year Rose had a chance of winning his first green jacket. 

He led the 2026 Masters by one stroke with nine holes remaining but came unstuck around Amen Corner. 

In the end, he finished in a share of third alongside Cameron Young, Tyrrell Hatton and Russell Henley. 

Reflecting on the loss, Rose said: "There was a lot to absorb there, that was a tough loss. 

"To be honest with you, the first two weeks back have been just about finding my feet again. 

"So I really don't feel like I've been sort of neglecting any part of my game."

He added: "I don't feel like there's been a lot of other distractions to other elements of my game. 

"I just think that there's cycles of form and there's cycles of things you got to work through mentally. 

"And I feel like I've done a nice job of that now and I feel like this week I feel like the enthusiasm and the energy's coming back to kind of want to compete. 

"Obviously you want to compete well every single week but there's sometimes it's just different dynamics that are going on behind the scenes that make it just a little bit more than just ticking boxes and yeah sometimes a little bit deeper than that. 

"But I feel like I said I feel like this week I feel just a little bit more switched on and ready to go."

The PGA Championship gets underway on Thursday. 

Keep checking GolfMagic for regular updates from the second men's major of the year.