Justin Rose aces East Lake ninth, Si Woo Kim answers with eagle

Justin Rose has been chasing his career slightly quieter than his 2013 U.S. Open self for a while now, but for one swing on Sunday at the Tour Championship, he looked like the guy who used to own major leaderboards. On the par-3 ninth at East Lake, the 46-year-old ripped a 6-iron from 208 yards that tracked the flag the whole way and dropped for a hole-in-one, the 4th ace of his career.

Barstool Sports

@barstoolsports

JUSTIN ROSE 208 YARD SLAM DUNK ACE WHAT A SHOT

The reaction wasn't subtle. Rose threw both arms up and mimicked a basketball slam dunk, which is exactly the read Fore Play and Barstool Sports gave it online — the "slam dunk ace" framing wasn't hyperbole, it was Rose's own celebration. That ninth hole had been one of the toughest at East Lake all week, and per ESPN, it had produced just 3 birdies against 88 pars, 11 bogeys and a double bogey before Rose's tee shot found the bottom of the cup. The last player to ace that hole on Tour was Xander Schauffele, back in the third round of the 2019 Tour Championship.

Rose had opened the back nine 2-over before the ace pulled him back to even par for the round and 8-under for the week — a number that shows up right on the CBS leaderboard graphic in the clips above. He'd go on to finish tied for 13th, 6 shots behind co-leaders Scottie Scheffler and Viktor Hovland, so the ace wasn't a leaderboard-mover. It was pure theater, and Rose's group made sure it didn't stop there.

Rose's playing partner was Si Woo Kim, and according to Fore Play's live look at the group, Kim followed the ace with a hole-out eagle of his own on the very next chance. Whether that's the tightest sequence East Lake has seen all week or not, it turned one group's stretch of holes into the moment of the tournament.

Fore Play

@ForePlayPod

THIS GROUP CAN’T MISS. SI WOO HOLE OUT EAGLE RIGHT AFTER ROSEY’S ACE!!!

None of it changed who's actually contending for the FedEx Cup at the top of the board, but that's not really the point of a Sunday ace at East Lake. Rose high-fived Kim and Kim's caddie right after the ball dropped, and for a few minutes the back nine at the Tour Championship was about a 46-year-old having the kind of luck that makes grown pros act like kids again.