DP World Tour pro and fan favourite Eddie Pepperell questioned whether Justin Rose has shown ‘superficiality’ during his career.
Speaking to the NCG Golf Podcast, the popular Englishman mentioned Rose in a discussion about the Ryder Cup, about whether the high-volume, chest-beating antics at the event are genuine.
The Ryder Cup is the biennial dust-up between Europe and the USA, in which there is often drama and controversy. The rivalry is back in September when the teams play at Bethpage Black in Long Island.
“I do think it is (real). I’ve never been to a Ryder Cup. So, there are definitely more qualified people to ask than me,” Pepperell said when host Tom Irwin asked if each fist pump and high five was real.
“I would say having played a lot of golf with a lot of the guys that are part of these Ryder Cup teams now, it seems the most real now than it’s ever been, and I think that’s for a number of different reasons.
Eddie Pepperell: ‘Justin Rose has done things in his career where there’s been a bit of superficiality involved’
“For golfers to come together in a team is such a rare thing. I know that the team captains in Europe have worked incredibly hard at trying to engender a great team spirit. And they’ve clearly succeeded in that.
“So all these guys, Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood. They just love being part of that team environment, and so I think that it is genuine and it’s infectious. It definitely comes through the TV screens.
“The one in Rome was just brilliant. It was Justin (Rose) holing that putt on the 18th and going mad.
“I always think, with somebody like Justin Rose, how much of it is superficial and how much of it is real. Because, no disrespect to Justin, I think that he’s done things in his career where there’s been a bit of superficiality involved.
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“I take nothing away from him. I find him great, he’s absolutely fantastic.
“I think a lot of his theatrics are genuine in those moments. It’s just become an enormous sporting event. Irrespective of the sport that you follow, it’s maybe become one of the biggest, like the Olympics and things like that. It’s a huge, huge global event now.”
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Three days after this episode of the NCG Golf Podcast came out, Rose won the FedEx St Jude Championship on the PGA Tour, and confirmed his spot on Team Europe at the age of 45. It will be his seventh start at the Ryder Cup.
Rose was part of the last European team that won away from home in 2012. He beat Phil Mickelson in the Sunday singles, which helped to kickstart a memorable comeback and a narrow 14.5-13.5 victory for Jose Maria Olazabal’s side.
In an individual sport, the Ryder Cup stands out for being a team event and one that adopts matchplay, a format that is seldom used at the highest level of the professional game.
“It’s grown and morphed into something even for non-golf fans to really enjoy,” Pepperell said.
“It’s come on a lot since then (2012). Probably since Paris in 2018, I think Keith… (Pelley, the former DP World Tour chief executive) I remember he tried to elevate that Ryder Cup to a level that we’d never seen before.
“Since then, particularly on the European side of things, it’s just grown and become this amazing thing that everybody wants to be part of.”
Records suggest that winning an away Ryder Cup is extremely difficult. Team USA haven’t won in Europe since 1993, and if it weren’t for the miracle of Medinah 13 years ago, Europe could only boast one away victory this side of the millennium.
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Europe will hope continuity helps them through. Luke Donald captained them to victory in 2023 in Rome and has taken the reins again for 2025. Pepperell, a two-time winner on the DP World Tour currently plying most of his trade on the Hotel Planner Tour, believes the European line-up could be the same too and talked up their chances.
“It’s definitely conceivable that you have the same 12 players. I don’t know if that’s ever happened. I would maybe guess that it hasn’t actually because of the nature of the qualifying system in the past and how different it used to be than how it is now. I think the 12th spot is definitely up for grabs.
“The Nicolai Hojgaard spot, if you can call it that. (It could be) filled by a few players. There are definitely players on our team who are obviously world-class when they’re on their games, whether it’s Fitzy, Hovland, Ludvig, but their form has been a bit intermittent, in and out, and the same with Justin Rose.
“If they show up, I would say we could well win.”
“If they don’t have their games, I think it’s going to be a bit of a challenge. I’m intrigued to see how they set the course up. Frankly, I played the PGA Championship there in 2019 and didn’t make a birdie for two days.
“It was such a tough golf course and you would think if it was set up similarly to how they did back then, it would favour the Europeans because they’re just better ball strikers tee to green and and hit it a bit straighter generally. I don’t think they’ll set it up like that.
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“That’s a huge part of its DNA (Bethpage), not because it chooses for that, because it just is. A lot of elevated greens. It requires really high-level ball striking and so, it’s difficult for me to think of how they could set the course up that doesn’t require that as the number one thing.
“Whereas Medinah, when they cut all the rough back, they turned it into a putting comp. You can see that. I don’t know how you turn Bethpage into just a putting competition. Therefore, the Europeans should feel good about their chances.”
Now have your say?
What do you think of Eddie’s comments about Justin Rose, and what about the Eddie Pepperell Ryder Cup comments? Let me know at m.chivers@nationalclubgolfer.com and on X, and let us know what else we could talk about on The NCG Golf Podcast.
NOW READ: Justin Rose WITB 2025: An eclectic mix seals the FedEx St. Jude Championship!
NOW READ: Ryder Cup standings: Who will play for Europe and the USA in 2025?
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