Justin Rose has officially been announced as the first PGA Tour player to join McLaren Golf as a global ambassador for the luxury car brand as it steps into the golf equipment space.
Professional golfers constantly tinker with equipment and jump from one club manufacturer to another throughout their careers, but Rose mixing it up comes across as a very strange move for a number of different reasons.
Justin Rose walks with his scorecard during the Final Round at Augusta National. Augusta, GA 4/12/2026 CREDIT: Erick W. Rasco (Photo by Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
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For starters, Rose is currently the No. 5 player in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) and has been playing great in 2026 with a win at the Farmers Insurance Open in February and a T-3 finish at the Masters earlier this month. Those are mighty strong accolades for a player who will turn 46 in July.
Rose has also played, and lost handily, in the exclusive equipment game fairly recently.
In 2019, Rose signed a multiyear equipment deal with Japanese manufacturer Honma. He won with Honma clubs in the bag very early that season, but when 2020 rolled around the missed cuts starting piling up and Honma clubs disappeared from the bag completely.
Justin Rose of England reacts on the seventh green during the final round of the 2026 Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on April 12, 2026 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
The Honma experience quickly became a disastrous one for Rose, and while McLaren could end up being the next great golf brand, his taking another chance on a brand that has proven exactly nothing in the golf space is questionable, at best.
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Rose, who has earned over $77 million in his career, will be getting paid by McLaren to use its equipment and promote the brand. But, how big does the sponsorship check exactly have to be to force you to switch equipment in the middle of a season that you’ve been operating quite nicely in? We’ll never know the answer to that question, but the money, combined with the input Rose has on the manufacturing side of McLaren Golf’s operations, has to be quite impactful.
Justin Rose hits a tee shot during Round Three at Augusta National. Augusta, GA 4/11/2026 CREDIT: Erick W. Rasco (Photo by Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
“From the beginning, this has been a passion project. 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,” Rose said while speaking of the move to McLaren.
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“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 been using a mixed bag of equipment in 2026, but is throwing the McLaren sticks right into action at this week’s Cadillac Championship, a signature event on the PGA Tour hosted at Trump Doral.
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With McLaren being a British brand and organization, and Rose being English himself, it’s a natural fit on paper. Whether it’s a natural fit inside the ropes, which is all that matters, only time will tell.
Props are due for McLaren for acquiring Rose’s signature, but getting into an already-crowded golf equipment world, the same one where Nike couldn’t even survive, is quite a leap.
