Tommy Fleetwood once stood on a fairway in Japan watching Woods card nine birdies in 15 holes, the best round he has ever seen. Rose watched him flip from relaxed to ice-cold and win a BMW Championship. On Tuesday, both saw traces of that player again as Woods made his competitive return at the TGL Season 2 Final. With the Masters three weeks away and his participation uncertain, what they said afterward tells you exactly why Tiger Woods remains the Big Cat.

Justin Rose said, “He looked impressive. I don’t think he hit a bad shot,” Rose said after the match. “If he can find some consistency in terms of competing, the short game and the putting and the touch will come back quick,” the 45-years-old said. The ball-striking, in his view, was already there. “He looked in a good spot, but he’s a legend, isn’t he? So to share the floor with him is awesome.”

And when asked by Tommy Fleetwood, he said, “Yeah, it’s Tiger Woods.”

The numbers backed every word of that. Woods opened with a 3-wood from 279 yards to set up a birdie, then lagged a 45-foot putt to a foot for a conceded birdie on the next hole. Jupiter went 2-0 up, Woods central to both points. Rose’s only caveat was the putting. Woods missed a three-footer on hole 7, slammed his putter into the turf, and from that moment LA Golf Club took control, winning 9-2.

That read has 23 years of experience playing with him inside the ropes.

Rose recalled a BMW Championship in Chicago in which Woods remained relaxed until the final round, when contention was within reach. “As soon as he got himself in trouble, I could see he went to another place.” Woods triumphed that day.

Fleetwood was on the opposing side in the final, and his perspective on Woods is shaped by years of sharing fairways.

He was at Eastlake in 2018 when Woods won the Tour Championship in his comeback from injury, and they played together frequently throughout the FedEx Playoffs that year. He also faced Woods three times during the Ryder Cup. But the round that sticks with him was in Japan, where Woods shot 66 with nine birdies in his final 15 holes on a difficult course.

“That was the best round of golf I’ve ever seen,” the 35-year-old said. After the handshake, Woods winked and said, “How about that, huh?”

And it’s not the first time Tommy Fleetwood came with that reaction. During the PLAYERS Championship 2026, when he found out Woods was not in the field due to eligibility, he did not hold back. “Is Tiger not eligible for this event? That’s unbelievable. I can’t believe he’s not eligible…. I think Tiger Woods should be able to play anywhere in the world.” Notably, Woods has two wins at TPC Sawgrass.

The respect isn’t one-sided, though.

When Fleetwood claimed his first PGA Tour title at the Tour Championship in 2025, Woods wrote publicly, “Your journey is a reminder that hard work, resilience, and heart do pay off. No one deserves it more.”

Meanwhile, for Rose, the moment came earlier in the TGL S2 when he hit a 225-yard shot on the par-5 tenth for the league’s first-ever albatross. Woods, who was watching from the sidelines immediately embraced him.

Although Woods left Tuesday frustrated after they lost the finals to LAGC, saying Jupiter “got their a– kicked.”

But what Rose and Fleetwood described was a player whose game is closer than the scoreline suggested. Whether Augusta happens in three weeks is still open. The appreciation for Tiger Woods’s game is there, and it’s not just limited to Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood.

Tiger Woods inspire generations

Rory McIlroy was asked what he wanted to be when he grew up. His answer was simple: win all the majors. That ambition was born the moment an eight-year-old McIlroy watched Woods win the 1997 Masters. Augusta stopped being a golf course that day. It became a destination.

Scottie Scheffler, the world’s current number one, has been equally direct. Playing alongside Woods at the 2020 Masters left a mark that stayed with him. Not the scoreline. The intensity. Woods was out of contention and still committed to every single shot. Scheffler has never forgotten that.

Scheffler described Woods as fundamentally different from everyone else. Not better by degree, but different in kind. That is not admiration talking. That is the best player on the planet acknowledging that one man still occupies a separate competitive tier in his mind.

Which is exactly what makes the Masters question so loaded. The man who made McIlroy dream of Augusta and made Scheffler redefine competitive standards is now on the outside looking in, recovery uncertain. Rose and Fleetwood saw enough on Tuesday to believe he belongs inside those ropes.