The Masters: Justin Rose faces four shots with the command of the first round 65

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Justin Rose advanced to four advantages on Thursday thanks to a brand new striker who ended up finishing him in the pair of seven.

Despite being two after seven holes, the Englishman rallied and hit an eagle in the eighth and seventh birds between the ninth and 17th to close four shots ahead of second-placed Brian Harman and Hideki Matsuyama.

The first round also pitted several pre-tournament candidates.

Defending champion Dustin Johnson scored 74 for two, while last year’s U.S. Open winner Bryson DeChambeau finished for four. DeChambeau is tied with Rory McIlroy, whose task completed a grand race slam with a Masters victory starting with a rocky start.

“I knew two to seven isn’t the end of the world, but I also knew you were going in the wrong direction,” Rose, a two-time Masters runner-up, told reporters.

“You can’t win the golf tournament today. Even with a 65 you can’t win today. You can probably only lose it today.

“I still didn’t press the panic button (after seven), but I reset it just before and thought that if I could stop again, it would be a good day’s work.”

Justin Rose shot an impressive 65 in the first round of the Masters.

This is the fourth time Rose has led or co-directed the Masters since the first round, a record she now shares with Jack Nicklaus.

The 40-year-old, who played his first tournament since retiring from the Arnold Palmer Invitational last month with a back injury, was one of three players to finish under the age of 70 in the alongside Harman and Matsuyama, quite the opposite of last year’s tournament when all 24 players shot under-70 scores in favorable November conditions.

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Rose’s only major previous win came at the 2013 US Open; the closest to getting a green jacket at the Masters was in 2017, when he was beaten in a playoff by Sergio Garcia.

“I’ve played this course many, many times, it’s my 15th Master, maybe, and the best I’ve had so far is 67,” Rose said.

“I felt like the conditions today weren’t the day to go hit them and have the best out there.

“It was quite windy (windy enough to be tricky) and obviously the greens are incredibly firm and fast. The pine layouts were fair, they certainly weren’t easy, but yes, and if you got the shot right at the right time appropriate, it could be taken advantage of “.

As for those further down the scoreboard, DeChambeau entered the Masters armed with a new driver and high expectations, but the big hitter got several shots off the fairway in the first round.

Bryson DeChambeau approaches the ball.

His 76 included a double bogey in the fourth and bogeys in the fifth, eighth and 12th before his only birdie on the 15th.

DeChambeau joined McIlroy on four occasions, the Northern Irishman had finished in the top ten in the national August on six previous occasions, but never got a green jacket.

This Masters victory looks set to elude him once again, as he shot six holes between the fifth and thirteenth holes on Thursday. It also turned out to be a day full of adventures as he hit his father with a stray shot in the seventh.
Johnson, the world number one, who won his second major title with a record 20 minors in last year’s Masters, began his bid to become the fourth player to win consecutive Green Jackets with a 74.

Well positioned at the bottom with three holes to play, Johnson swept the 16th and doubled the 18th after his putt came out of the hole.

Another former champion, Jordan Spieth, who returned to the winner’s circle last week with his first win in nearly four years, concentrated on the back again after a triple bogey in the ninth to finish in a sub.

2018 champion Patrick Reed finished the day tied for fourth place with two players down, while Justin Thomas and Jon Rahm, second and third in the world rankings, finished one-on-one and one-pair, respectively.

CNN’s Ben Morse contributed to the reports.

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