Former
Scottish Open champion Justin Rose is out in front after the opening
round in The Masters for the fifth time in his career - and this time
the Englishman is determined to stay there and claim a Green Jacket.
On
a fascinating opening day in the event’s 89th edition at Augusta
National, the 44-year-old carded a seven-under-par 65, matching his
lowest round at the Georgia venue.
It earned him a three-shot lead over defending champion Scottie
Scheffler, last year’s runner-up Ludvig Aberg and Corey Conners, who has
recorded three top-ten finishes in seven starts here.
Rose either led on his own or shared the lead in 2004, 2007 and 2008 -
three successive starts - then again in 2021 while he finished runner-up
in both 2015 and 2017.
The
2014 Genesis Scottish Open winner had been happy to come into this
edition feeling he was under the “radar”, but he’s not in that position
any more. Not after a sparkling effort that contained eight birdies,
with his sole dropped shot coming at the last.
“Yeah,
obviously delighted to get off to such a great start and it definitely
happened out of the gates,” he said of opening with three birdies before
making another hat-trick from the eighth then adding gains at the 15th
and 16th as well.
“It was a really good day's golf on a golf course that was a stern
test,” said the former US Open and Olympic champion. “I think if you
look at the overall leaderboard, not many low scores out there. A lot of
quality shots, and delighted the way I played.
“This
year I've been saying to people, my good is good. When I have been
playing well, I feel like I have been competing at a high level. My
consistency maybe has not been as high this year, but my good is good
again.
“So
I'm excited about that. I played a lot of golf here at Augusta
National, so to come away with my equal best score is certainly an
achievement for me.”
Rose,
who did a brilliant job mentoring Bob MacIntyre on the opening two days
in the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome, has topped the leaderboard after more
rounds - nine - than anyone who has yet to win this event.
“I
feel like I've played well enough (to do it),” insisted Rose. “I just
don't have the jacket to prove it.I've played a lot of good rounds of
golf here. Got a lot of crystal, which is obviously always nice.
“But,
ultimately, you want to be the last man standing on Sunday. I guess
Sergio [Garcia] and I in 2017 (losing in play-off), that was a real
50/50. That could have gone any which way down the stretch.
“A
little bit of Lady Luck here and there is always the difference here at
times. But I've had my luck on occasion and been a champion. But you've
got to be playing good golf to keep creating those opportunities, and
obviously the only way to do that is to get your name on the
leaderboard. I definitely don't shy away from it.”
Rose
finished joint-second behind Xander Schauffele in last year’s 152nd
Open at Royal Troon “I feel like I played good enough to win the
tournament,” he said of that close call. “So I took a lot of confidence
from it.”
On a good day for English golfers, Tyrrell Hatton (69), Aaron Rai (70) and Matt Fitzpatrick (71) also ended in red figures.
Career
grand slam-chasing Rory McIlroy, meanwhile, had to settle for a
level-par 70 after running up two double bogeys in the final four holes.
The
world No 2 was closing in on second place when he sent his third shot
into the water at the 15th, where Patrick Cantlay had did the same thing
twice a bit earlier.
US
Open champion Bryson DeChambeau is handily-placed on three under, but
2023 champion Jon Rahm had to settle for a 75, sitting alongside Bob
MacIntyre in joint-63rd.
Bernhard
Langer, who is making his 41st and final appearance, signed for a 74,
three shots more than fellow former winner Fred Couples, who holed out
for an eagle-2 at the 14th.
