“Certain things are lessons to us all” - Justin Rose shares a heartfelt moment with his biggest fan at The Players Championship

Justin Rose met his biggest fan, Mike Walker, at the 2023 Players Championship. Walker has a memory problem and has difficulty talking to people.

He was wearing a board around his neck that read:

"I may have memory problems. I might have difficulty communicating with you and can become anxious. Please be patient with me."

He met Justin Rose on The Players Championship golf course and talked for a while. The golfer later talked about Mike in his interview and said that people can learn a lot from Walker, who finds happiness in small things. Rose said:

"Yeah, obviously it gives you kind of. I guess, he has a bigger perspective when he's going through some maybe tough health challenges. For people who are still kind of making each day count and living in the moment and still getting joy out of the small things in life, whenever you have a meeting like that, it hits home. Certain things that are lessons to us all.”

Mike Walker is suffering from Alzheimer's disease. He is a huge fan of Justin Rose. His daughter, Sophie Walker, spoke about him to the press and said:

"This is my dad’s last trip to America. They’re (her parents) going to stop traveling so far. This is their fourth Players Championship; they wanted to come to this to say goodbye to it."

After meeting his favorite golfer, Mike Walker said:

"I’ve always admired the way he (Justin Rose) played. He’s a family lad, as well. He’s a class act. By the TV back home. Big.”

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"What a lovely gesture!" - People react to Justin Rose meeting his biggest fan

Justin Rose's beautiful gesture of meeting his fans was appreciated by people. The Players Championship shared a tweet about the same on their social media page. People commented:

"Justin Rose is the personification of class. What a lovely gesture!"

"What an amazing person Justin Rose is, a class act, the total opposite of Westwood & poulter"

"Mike Walker, 77, gets moment of a lifetime in final trip to America. See my homepage plz."

"Justin Rose is the personification of class. What a lovely gesture!"

Rose is competing in The Players Championship, which is scheduled to wrap up with a finale on Sunday, March 12. The first round of the tournament wrapped up on Thursday, with Justin Rose finishing with a score of under three. He settled at T12.

Rose started with a birdie on the third hole and then made a bogey on the 11th hole. He sank two consecutive birdies on the 12th and 13th holes and made a birdie on the 16th hole.

Chad Ramey topped the leaderboard after the opening round. He scored under 8 to register his lead in the tournament. The second position was secured by Collin Morikawa, who is one shot behind Ramey. Ben Martin is in third position alongside Justin Suh and Taylor Pendrith.

The star-studded tournament has a purse of $25 million with the winner receiving a check of $4.5 million.