Justin Rose announced today that he will be playing new clubs this week at the PGA Tour’s Cadillac Championship. The clubs he will be playing are from McLaren Golf, for which Rose, the brand’s first ambassador, also is an investor into the new venture from one of the world’s luxury automobile makers.
The 45-year old Rose, currently the world’s fifth ranked player, has had a resurgence of late, winning twice on the PGA Tour since August and has contended for the title in the last two Master’s tournaments. The consummate ball striker, Rose currently leads the PGA Tour in Greens In Regulation (GIR) and is seventh in Strokes Gained Approach. Now he has new clubs in the bag once again, as he looks to keep his good form through the switch.
For the past few seasons, the former world number one player has been without a full-time equipment contract. That will now change as Rose dons the papaya colored bag of McLaren Golf on the PGA Tour. According to McLaren Golf, Rose has been working with them for the last few years on prototypes with designers and engineers, as well as giving his feedback on the equipment.
“From the beginning, this has been a passion project,” Rose said in a statement. “I’ve had the opportunity to be involved from the outset – working with the team, testing the clubs and helping shape what they’ve become. That level of involvement, combined with the standards McLaren brings to everything they do, made this an easy decision for me. I’m excited to put the clubs in play and watch the brand flourish.”
Rose has a relationship going back years with Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing. Rose has been a regular golf partner of Formula One driver and reigning world champion, Lando Norris. Norris of course is the top driver for McLaren’s F1 team, so this partnership has been brewing for a while.
For this week’s Cadillac Championship at Doral, Rose will be playing the McLaren Golf Series 1 irons in 5-pitching wedge and a Series 3 4-iron. McLaren Golf has not released many details on their future plans, but they are scheduled to officially launch their golf brand on April 29, one day before the Cadillac Championship begins. The timing of this announcement is no coincidence though. Formula 1 is also in Miami this week for a race, so there will undoubtedly be a coordinated effort for the launch.
Mike is a founding member of Break80 Golf and a contributing golf and sports writer for Forbes with PGA Tour and LIV Golf media credentials. Mike can be reached at [email protected] for inquiries or story leads.
