Rose critical of ‘too condensed’ major schedule

Justin Rose has been speaking out against the change in this year’s schedule for major championships as he claimed the ‘too condensed’ line-up has been ‘driven’ by the FedEx Cup

The 148th Open Championship at Portrush will mark the end of the 2019 major season a month earlier than the golf world has become accustomed to for the last few decades, and former World No.1 Justin Rose criticsed the new major schedule, calling it ‘too condensed’. 

The reigning FedEx Cup champion and former World No.1 was outspoken about the change in scheduling of the PGA Tour this season, which also saw a scheduling reshuffle of the PGA Championship to May and the Players Championship back to March.

It means that all four majors are played between April and July, while the PGA Tour season finishes with the Tour Championship at the end of August. When it was announced, a joint statement from both PGA of America and the PGA TOUR cited golf’s return to the Olympics and a changing golf schedule, while it was widely acknowledged that golf would now end at the start of the American Football season. 

But while both Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas talked about still needing to figure out how to adapt, Justin Rose was more outspoken on the issue players faced this year: For him, having four majors in four consecutive months is ‘too soon’, and their position in the calendar should be a priority, not a factor driven by the FedEx Cup. 

“One major a month really I think is too – in my opinion they’re too soon,” Rose said.

“It’s too condensed. Just the — as a professional in terms of trying to peak for something, the process that’s involved in trying to do that can be detailed and it can be longer than a month. So that’s my reasoning for that.

“But I also think it’s pretty much driven by FedExCup, wanting to finish on a certain date, everything else having to fit in where it can.

“For me a major championship should be the things that are protected the most. That’s how all of our careers ultimately are going to be measured. 30, 40 years ago there wasn’t a FedExCup so if you’re trying to compare one career to another career, Jack versus Tiger, it’s the majors that are — they’re the benchmarks. For them to be tweaked so much I think is quite interesting at this point.”

Rose was also critical of the change in rhythm for players, which has made a distinct change in his lifestyle and balance in the way he has prepared for majors for the past 20 years: Like Woods and Xander Schauffele, Rose hasn’t teed up in any event since the U.S. Open last month.

“I think we’re all trying to adapt to this new schedule, this new rhythm of the majors, and they seem to be coming thick and fast at the moment. It’s about trying to peak, valley, and peak again. In such a short period of time in which you’re able to do that. There’s always that drop off after a major, from an intensity point of view, anyway.

“This is unchartered territory for me to take time off between majors, for sure. It coincides with coming back to the UK. There’s pressure with catching up with family, and wanting to catch up with family, those weeks are precious. It’s just a balance at that point in terms of professional, strategy in terms of preparing for it and then also just lifestyle and having a life and seeing family and friends that you haven’t seen for a long time.

“So it’s a learning curve this year I would say. So we will see.”