JUSTIN Rose came close to breaking his Augusta Green Jacket duck for a fourth time in his long distinguished career, on Sunday – some 31 years after setting his Hampshire Hog record that still stands.
Having finished runner-up three times since 2015, the Hook-raised golfer led the tournament going into the back nine.
But the 45-year-old, who has defied his age since turning 40, dropped two shots around Amen Corner to surrender the lead.
He eventually finished in third place as Rory McIlroy wrote more chapters of his incredible story in the Majors, retaining the Green Jacket he won so dramatically a year ago.
In the process he joined the exalted company of Jack Nicholas, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods as the only players to have won the Masters back-to-back, some 30 years ago since Faldo won the last of his six Major titles.
Thirty one years ago this month, Rose was taking the first bold step of his golf career by becoming the youngest winner of the Hampshire Hog – the top amateur event staged at North Hants GC since the late 1950s, which has been won by 21 future Ryder Cup and Walker Cup players.
Rose was just 14 that spring, beating nearly all the top English Amateurs of the day, with victory fast-tracking him into England’s junior development programme, becoming the youngest amateur ever to face America in the Walker Cup’s history, two summers later.
Last year should have been the 30th anniversary of Rose’s Hog’s win – but a winter long programme to refurbish every bunker on the course was not completed in time because of the weather in time for the greenkeeping staff to prepare the course for the historic 36-hole event.
The organisers, who lost the Hog two years running to the COVID restrictions, were reluctant to call the event off for a third time in six years.
Blackmoor GC, who annually stage the Selborne Salver 24 hours earlier as part of the 72-hole Hampshire Salver competition, stepped in to hold a second 36-hole competition to preserve the county’s World Amateur Golf Ranking event over the weekend.
The North Hants course was used for Regional Qualifying for The Open Championship last summer and has had another eight months to mature and grow in.
Former club captain Neil Dawson, who chairs the Hampshire Rose and Hog committee, is confident the returning regulars will see the benefits of the revamp of the James Braid-designed course, as it celebrates 70 years of its founding on Sunday.
Neil, who was Hampshire captain for three seasons between 2020 and 2022, is looking forward to the 67th running of the Hog.
He said: “As well as removing a few fairway and greenside bunkers, we have removed more of the invasive trees that were not part of the original course, dating back to 1904.
“In doing so, we have been able to improve the quality of the heather which is the notable feature of any true heathland course. We now have some interesting run off areas around some of the raised greens.
“The club has a mission statement of turning North Hants from a ‘good to great’ course and these improvements are a big part of that – we have improved the irrigation system from our reservoir, which has helped with the grass on the fairways, green fringes and the tees too.
“By removing a number of bunkers around the greens, we have been able to create some run off areas which provide a different challenge for golfers of all abilities.
“The bunkers have all been relined and had all the sand removed, taking out all the stones and improving the drainage.
“As well as reshaping and resiting a couple of key fairway bunkers, we have increased the challenge to players off the tee – certainly the elite golfers will see that on the long par-five 17th.
“On the par-three 10th, we have gone back to how the hole looked in the 1940s by extending the crescent-shaped bunker in front of the green so it encloses the putting surface from left to right. It’s a signature hole now.
“The changes are very much aesthetic in terms of what the visiting golfer sees now, while continuing the efforts we have made in the last two decades in improving James Braid’s excellent – and original – vision as one of the country’s leading course designers in the 20th Century.
“We have regenerated some 800 square yards of heather, removing a bank of long grass on the left of the 13th with a whole new area for a much more natural hazard to negotiate.
“We took out a lot of trees nearly 15 years ago to open up the course and give the heather a chance to grow, and in places we have taken out those species which are not natural on a heathland course.”
•HAMPSHIRE HOG FIRST ROUND TEE TIMES
The fifth hole at North Hants Golf Club, at Fleet, which has undergone a major refurbishment since the Hampshire Hog was last held in 2024.