Former Scottish Open champion Justin Rose off to another strong start in Masters

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.