McLaren encouraged to make new offer to Justin Rose after poor start with his new irons

Justin Rose has been enjoying a real renaissance over the past couple of years.

Rose came agonizingly close to winning The Masters in 2025, after pushing Xander Schauffele all the way at The Open Championship in 2024.

The 45-year-old Englishman then won the FedEx St. Jude Championship at the end of last year, before running away with the Farmers Insurance Open title at Torrey Pines back in February.

Justin Rose also played a lead role for the European team at the Ryder Cup back in September.

However, Rose shocked everyone when he switched to McLaren irons two weeks ago, ahead of the busiest and most important stretch of the golfing season.

It seemed like a completely bizarre time for Rose to make the change.

Now McLaren have been urged to offer an olive branch to the Englishman.

McLaren told to make new offer to Justin Rose after poor start with new irons

Interestingly, Brandel Chamblee claimed that Rose’s irons may still be his old ones with a McLaren stamp on them.

However, that is surely miles off, as his new irons look completely different to his old ones.

Johnson Wagner has now delivered his verdict on Rose’s iron switch while speaking on Golf on CBS.

Wagner responded when asked if he was surprised by Rose switching to McLaren irons recently.

“Absolutely. I think it has a lot to do with decimal points, but that’s what he does with his body,” Wagner insisted.

“That’s what he does with his health. He got a truck. He drives around to get any little advantage he can, that’s what he does.

“And to make this decision, mid-year, it’s one thing if you do it after the playoffs.

“And then in September, you go through the process, and you go through different irons and grinds, and whatever it is.

“But to make the switch in the middle of the biggest stretch of golf of the year, it’s shocking.

“Now, I did talk to him at Quail Hollow about it last week, and he said, you know, that his stats, since those first two days at Doral, have gotten better and better with the iron play, but why would you make that decision?

“Clearly, the relationship with McLaren is important to him. I mean, he’s a car guy, an F1 guy.

“So I think it’s a great relationship to have.

“And if it were me, if I were McLaren, I would say, ‘Hey, the bag looks great, put your old irons back in there. We’d rather see you win a golf tournament with something else. We’ll figure this out in the offices’.“

Terrible timing for Justin Rose’s McLaren switch

Justin Rose was ranked 65th and 45th respectively in strokes gained approach in the two tournaments he has played with his new McLaren irons.

At the Cadillac Championship, Rose recorded his second-worst ball-striking round and his worst tee-to-green round of the 2026 season.

It’s obviously still very early days, and Rose needs time to get comfortable with his new irons.

However, that’s why everyone is so confused by what the 2013 US Open champion has just done.

Why didn’t he make the change at the end of the season, so that he would have had three or four west coast tournaments to bed them in?

Making the decision to switch to McLaren irons was a strange one in the first place by Justin Rose, but the timing makes it look even worse.