AUGUSTA, Ga. — Oh, how different one week can be.
Seven days ago, during the first round of the Valero Texas Open, Justin Rose hit a cold-blooded shank on the 4th hole at TPC San Antonio, leading to a double-bogey six and ultimately an even par round of 72.
He came nowhere close to doing such a thing on Thursday at Augusta National.
Rose turned in a masterful round, making eight birdies en route to a 7-under 65. His only blemish on the scorecard came on the par-4 18th after he drove it right of the fairway and into the trees. But other than that wayward fire, Rose was dialed in all day.
“Today I chunked the golf course in my mind, little mini targets, mini goals. And that’s the way I approached the day, and that’s going to be the approach tomorrow and the approach on Saturday and the approach on Sunday,” Rose explained.
“So really try to be clear out there. Really try to make sure I didn’t hit a shot until I was fully committed. Those are the kind of things that we say often, and they are pretty boring to hear, shot-for-shot, but ultimately there is no other way of doing. It’s how good you are doing that in the moment, and it all comes down to execution. I know my way around this golf course. I have a straight strategy around here. Yeah, it’s about making it count and stepping up and hitting the shots.”
Rose got on the board early and often.
He made three straight par-breakers right out of the gate, making birdies on the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd holes. On those famous white leaderboards all around Augusta National, patrons saw Rose’s name vault to the top. It was barely even lunchtime before his name stood above the rest. Everyone realized that Rose was ready to contend once again.
“Obviously delighted to get off to such a great start, and that start definitely, it happened out of the gates. So for the first few holes everything was going exactly where I was looking, and certainly the first hole, which is definitely one of the trickier holes on the golf course, to knock in a nice 25-footer down the hill right-to-left, exactly what you need to settle yourself into the Masters, and then 2 and 3 are birdie opportunities. So to be 3-under through 3 kind of really got me on the front foot and felt like I was playing great golf,” Rose explained.
“I did find myself in a little bit of trouble 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 change. But really good up-and-downs on 14 and 15 to keep the round really hot. Only blemish on 18, but no point dwelling on that.
“It was a really good day’s golf on a golf course that was a stern test. 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.”
The Englishman has two up finishes at The Masters, as both came within a three-year span in 2015 and 2017. In the first instance, he lost to an unbeatable Jordan Spieth, who won wire-to-wire. Then, Rose lost to Sergio Garcia in a playoff.
But the 2013 U.S. Open winner has four other top-10 finishes at Augusta in his career. Better than that, he has held the first-round lead or co-lead five times now, which is the most all-time. Yet, that mark does come with a blemish. Rose has led or co-led after eight rounds at The Masters, the most of any player without a win.
His most recent time doing so came in 2021, when he fired a 65 during the opening round to take control of the championship. Then Rose squandered the lead away, shooting 72-72-74 over the final 54 holes to finish solo seventh.
“This is a great opportunity, though, for me, not pressure,” Rose said.
“I see it all as upside now. I think my résumé is nicely rounded out. There’s a few big glaring gaps. Obviously three major championships I haven’t won. Maybe a PLAYERS Championship as well. So there’s tons of opportunity to do things I haven’t done before, but the major headlines are kind of all in place for me. So I should use that as freedom to take these opportunities and use them to kind of freewheel and use it all as upside, yeah.”
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.
