1 week Ago
AUGUSTA -- Justin Rose has been telling people this year that his good is good. When he's played well, he's competed at a high level. The consistency? Maybe not quite to where he would like it to be, but the high points have been proof enough to Rose to have given him good feelings coming into the 89th Masters Tournament.
He proved it to everyone else Thursday. Rose is back atop the leaderboard at the Masters following a sizzling round of 65 that leaves him three shots clear of the field. It's the fifth time Rose has held at least a share of the lead through 18 holes at Augusta National Golf Club, and in his 20th career Masters start the 44-year-old showed he's more than capable of hanging with the young guns.
"Obviously you come to the first major of the year, a lot of emphasis on how you peak and how you go through the preparation cycle to feel like you're going to play well," he explained. "And, yeah, my range work this week has been good, but my practice rounds haven't been perfect. "But in some ways it's good to come in slightly under the radar.
Played last week in San Antonio, made the cut, but finished middle of the pack. But sometimes there's a lot of learning to that, and I feel like I've adjusted really, really well as this week has gone on, and obviously timed it just right well to play well today." Rose started his day with three consecutive birdies, surging into contention and then continuing to surpass the 4-under mark that looked like it was going to be the magic number all day Thursday.
He added another trio of birdies around the turn to reach 6 under, then got it to 8 with a birdie-birdie binge through 15 and 16 before dropping his lone shot of the day on 18 - still, all that meant was he merely tied his career low here. "Yeah, obviously delighted to get off to such a great start, and that start definitely, it happened out of the gates," he said. ".
.. When I did find myself into in a little bit of trouble, especially early, No.
5, holed a great putt for par. And middle of the back nine I felt like there were a couple moments where the momentum could have changed. But really good up-and-downs on 14 and 15 to keep the round really hot.
Obviously the only blemish on 18, but there's no point dwelling on that." Rose said he was delighted by the way he played, and there was good reason to be on a day where the golf course required a lot of quality shots. "Ridiculous.
That's nuts," Viktor Hovland said incredulously, not long after he opened with a 71. "Those greens are so firm. I remember a few years ago, I can't remember what year it was, but he kind of did something similar, I think.
I think this one is probably a little bit more impressive because out of all the Masters I've played, this is probably the firmest it's been since I've played, on a Thursday. It's definitely no joke out there." Three shots back are Corey Conners, defending champion Scottie Scheffler and Ludvig Åberg, runner-up to Scheffler last year.
It was a bogey-free start for Scheffler, who finds himself in a friendly spot as he looks to become the fourth player to win back-to-back Masters. Not that he worries too much about the stats and trends, like how the last 10 winners have been within the top 11 through 18 holes. "I mean, I don't really think about that stuff very much," he said.
"I don't really care what happened in the last few tournaments. I think anytime you get close to the lead, it's going to be easier for you to win the golf tournament. That's a simple fact of the matter.
You get off to a good start, statistically you're going to have a better chance to win the tournament. "I think around major championship golf courses, too - it's funny because this is a golf course where there's a lot of opportunities. There's a lot of opportunity over the weekend.
There's a lot of opportunity on Sunday with where they put the pins. I'm a bit surprised that it's like that, but I wouldn't say that it can't be done." For those that do pay attention to those trends, the top 11 technically includes 26 players thanks to a logjam at 1 under that includes two-time champion Bubba Watson, 2018 champ Patrick Reed - and 1992 champion Fred Couples.
"I mean, yeah, it's a great round," said Couples, whose round was highlighted by a 6-hybrid hole-out for eagle on 14. "I think I shot 71 the year I made the cut (2023) and I hit two unbelievable shots on 18 that didn't trickle down and I three-putted. I was 2-under and I was so mad.
Today I'm happy as a clam. Conners birdied three of his last four holes to reach 4 under, which stood as the early lead before Rose started making birdies in bunches. World No.
2 Rory McIlroy also reached that number in his 11th attempt at completing the career Grand Slam, but his Thursday difficulties at Augusta again resurfaced late in the round in the form of double bogeys on 15 and 17 to fall all the way back to even-par..
