Rose blooms with early Masters lead

Three years on from leading the Masters at the halfway stage, Justin Rose returned yesterday to compile an exciting first round of 69.

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Given that he hasn't played for five weeks owing to a back injury, this was a remarkable performance from the 26-year-old Englishman, owing much to the chipping and putting he had worked on tirelessly leading up to the event.

While Rose was scrambling expertly, some of the big names were struggling to cope with the beefed-up Augusta course. Nobody crashed harder to earth than defending champion Phil Mickelson, who went to the turn in a humbling 40 shots, eventually signing for a 76.

No player has ever come back from a score worse than 75 in the opening round to win the Masters, and it will need some turnaround from Mickelson to be a factor over the next three days.

All the talk in the build-up to this event had centred around the tantalising possibility of a shoot-out between him and Tiger Woods.

But such a thought conveniently ignored the fact that Mickelson has been struggling for much of this year.

As for Woods, one of the later starters, he played the front nine in 37, one over par.

What of Mickelson's young playing partner Richie Ramsay. The 23-year-old Scot, who owed his starting position to being U.S. Amateur Champion, didn't manage a single birdie, but skilfully limited the bogeys to just four to match the left-hander's 76.

Ernie Els was another high-profile struggler with a 78, while the first man to finish under par was Els's fellow South African, Tim Clark, a distant runner-up to Mickelson last year. He shot 71, and was joined on the same mark by Augusta resident Vaughn Taylor and fellow Americans Rich Beem, JJ Henry and Zach Johnson. Leading European hope Henrik Stenson was more than happy after shooting 72.

According to the weathermen, this will be the coldest Masters since 1945, with temperatures at the weekend expected to plummet below freezing for the morning play.

Untypically cold it might be early on, but the skies are forecast to be blue every day, and once the sun had burned off the morning chill yesterday, the first round was played in ideal conditions.

The pins are invariably set in tough places for the first round at Augusta, however, and it proved a long day in every sense for many of the competitors on the lengthened 7,500-yard layout.

There among all the bogeys and worse, however, stood Rose, showing what a good player he has become. He got off to the ideal start, following two opening pars by playing a wedge to 12 feet at the third and rolling in the putt. Then came a passage of play that showcased his expert scrambling qualities.

At the short fourth he got a free drop after his tee shot finished in a grandstand and chipped and putted for par. Still better was the fifth. His approach found a greenside bunker but he holed his 12-yard recovery for a bonus birdie.

Rose didn't get carried away. As he waited to play his shots he would stand in the middle of each fairway, stretching the recently-strained lower back muscles that had caused his enforced absence. Outside the ropes, his mother Anne and wife Kate were quick to reassure that this was precautionary.

Walking up the first fairway, Stenson's English coach Pete Cowen, who has done much to aid the Swede's return from the wilderness, was keen to play down his man's chances.

Expectation has been the downfall of many a Masters contender, and Cowen admitted that his man was struggling to come to terms with going from playing in tournaments while under the radar to Europe's principal hope for the green jacket.

"We have to remember that he is up against players like Woods and Mickelson, who have 30 Masters appearances between them and he has played one," Cowen said. "It's asking an awful lot to bridge that experience gap."

Stenson missed the halfway cut by a bundle on his Masters debut last year but gained invaluable wisdom watching playing partner Vijay Singh plot his way around. "There was so much there that I can use this year," he said on the eve of the event, and it showed in his skillful opening nine of 34.

Cowen is hoping that his man can hang around the top of the leaderboard until Sunday afternoon. "He's never finished higher than 14th in a major but what would be exciting for me is to see him with a chance to win over the back nine," he said.

"Most players are uncomfortable in that position but Henrik is fearless."

Stenson dropped a couple of shots on the back nine but no player was going home unhappy yesterday after matching par.

Among the later starters, Englishman David Howell had three birdies in a magical four-hole spell around the turn to get to one under. Paul Casey, handed the draw every player dreads since he had to cope with Woods's entourage, was four over for the first six.

Ian Poulter, part of the first group on the course, could manage only a 75 to finish alongside fellow Englishman Kenny Ferrie.

Leaderboard:

(*denotes amateur)

69 — J Rose (GB)

71 — T Clark (SA), V Taylor, Z Johnson, R Beem, JJ Henry.

72 — D Love, H Stenson (Swe), B Bryant.

73 — S Verplank.

74 — A Oberholser, A Scott (A).

75 — I Poulter (GB), D Wilson, B Dredge (GB), C DiMarco, K Ferrie (GB), T Watson, S Appleby (A), M Weir (Can), K Choi (Kor), G Ogilvy (A).

76 —B Mayfair, N O'Hern (Aus), B Crenshaw, C Montgomerie (GB), F Couples, S Garcia (Sp), P Mickelson, *R Ramsay (GB).

77 — *J Kelly, S Stricker, N Fasth (Swe), M O'Meara, C Campbell, A Cabrera (Arg). 78 — B Langer (G), E Els (SA).

79 — T Matteson, S Lyle (GB), S Katayama (Jpn).

80 — J Durant.

82 — F Funk.

83 — L Mize, G Player (SA), *J Guerrier (F).

84 —*D Womack.

87 — *C Watabu.