Justin Rose made a strong start to The Masters this year as he looks to erase his Augusta National pain from 2025.
Rose was beaten by Rory McIlroy in a playoff at The Masters last year, when his PGA Tour rival completed the career grand slam.
McIlroy has once again gotten the better of Rose this time around, with the defending champion sharing the lead with Sam Burns after the first round.
The pair entered day two on five-under, although Rose isn’t far behind following his two-under 70 on Thursday.
The Englishman was on hand to analyse his round afterwards, which left him a tie for sixth with Shane Lowry, Xander Schauffele and Scottie Scheffler.
Justin Rose notices change in front and back nine success at Augusta
Rose said of his early efforts at Augusta: “I think overall a good start. Just big-picture, kind of knew the course was going to be playing tricky today, especially this afternoon.
“Yesterday was quite a windy day. This morning was cold. I thought it was going to take a lot of the moisture out of the golf course.
“Obviously it was a beautiful afternoon. Wind laid down a little bit. It was nice to play out there. Obviously my day, yeah, spoiled a little bit by two late bogeys, but other than that, I think a good start to the tournament.”
And discussing the struggles of many players on the back nine compared to the front, Rose said: “Yeah, it’s normally the other way around on this golf course.
“Normally the back nine offers you the opportunities. The par-5 greens are getting much firmer now, so going for those greens in two is not such an easy thing.
“I think today laying up on 13 was probably having a little wedge into the front pin was probably easier. Brooks [Koepka] hit two good shots, was at the back of the green, almost an impossible two-putt.
“They weren’t yielding birdies which they might have done, which then makes the back nine feel pretty difficult, yeah.”
Justin Rose names 2007 Masters as the most difficult
Rose managed a total of five birdies in his opening round of The Masters, which he accompanied with 10 pars and three bogeys.
It was a solid if unspectacular performance from the veteran, who can take confidence from joining Lowry in the leaderboard after the Irishman claimed the course was the most difficult he’s ever played at Augusta.
With Lowry suggesting that the weather can make it the toughest Masters, Rose responded: “It’s set that way, right? The weather is perfect. I think it’s going to get warmer.
“I don’t know what the wind forecast is. This course can play harder if it’s windy, right, and I think that’s the only thing that would make it play harder really.
“But 2007 for me… I know Shane probably didn’t play in 2007, but when Zach Johnson won, I felt like that was very crispy, cold, windy. That was probably the toughest I’ve seen it play.”
That year did prove one of the toughest as Johnson’s 11-over 289 equalled the highest winning score ever at The Masters, with Rose finishing three shots behind in T5.
The Englishman was also asked after his latest round if he was surprised that it wasn’t windier as he got through his day, to which he replied: “That was the forecast actually, so I wasn’t surprised. I was quite grateful to see that, yeah.
“It still cost me a couple of shots, to be honest. I still got the wind wrong on 14 and 17, and because it was dying, there was still the occasional gust to kind of puff through.
“Listen, it’s never easy. Even five-mile-an-hour wind if it doesn’t settle in one direction, you can still make mistakes because as the greens get firmer, your targets get smaller, so it’s more and more critical.”
It remains to be seen exactly what the weather in Georgia will do throughout the rest of the week, but Augusta doesn’t look like it’s going to get any easier.
But 45-year-old Rose boasts more experience than most, which should work in his favor if conditions do indeed become even more difficult.
He is making his 21st start at the prestigious tournament this week, with further motivation arriving from his three heartbreaking runner-up finishes at Augusta in 2015, 2017 and 2025.
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