1x Major champ Justin Rose reveals early Christmas gift from Augusta National ahead of Masters 2026

One-time major winner Justin Rose almost won his second major title at the 2025 Masters, but he ultimately finished as a runner-up. However, Augusta National had a fitting Christmas gift for the golfer before the next edition of the Masters.

On December 22, Rose shared a picture of the official invitation letter for the 2026 Masters on his X account. The letter was signed by Fred Ridley, the Chairman of the Augusta National Golf Club, and it read:

"The Board of Governors of the Augusta National Golf Club cordially invites you to participate in the Two Thousand and Twenty Six Masters Tournament to be held at Augusta, Georgia, the ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth of April."

Justin Rose shared his excitement after receiving the invitational letter and wrote:

"The @TheMasters always send Christmas gifts early!!! 🎅🏻🥂"

Take a look at Rose's X post:

Rose has played in 20 editions of the Masters and made the cut in 17 of them. He has recorded seven top 10s and registered three runner-up finishes (2015, 2017, and 2025). This year, Rose and Rory McIlroy were tied for first place in the Masters leaderboard after 72 holes. In the sudden-death playoff, the Northern Irishman birdied the par-4 playoff hole and won the green jacket.

It marked a second playoff loss for Justin Rose, who also lost against Sergio Garcia in the 2017 Masters playoff. Despite missing the Green Jacket with such a close margin, the golfer did not lose his spirit.

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Justin Rose chose not to dwell on heartbreak at Augusta National

After Justin Rose missed the chance to win his first green jacket, he was embraced by Rory McIlroy on the greens. The 2013 U.S. Open champ opened up afterwards and shared his take on his third close miss in the prestigious major.

Rose stated that it was painful, but chose to consider the "good stuff" and shared some words of wisdom. The PGA Tour pro said:

"Yeah, it hurts. What do you choose to dwell on, you know what I mean? There's no point in being too despondent about it. Look at all the good stuff that got me into this situation. "You can't skip through a career without a little bit of heartache. It's not going to happen. If you're willing to lift the big championships, you've to put yourself on the line. You have to risk feeling this way to get the reverse.”

Despite the Masters' heartbreak, Rose congratulated McIlroy for winning the major and the career grand slam in a post on his Instagram account. He also admitted that it was cool to share the greens with the Northern Irishman during the latter's victorious moment in Augusta National.

Edited by Hitesh Nigam