Justin Rose believes he still has the game to add to his major tally after overcoming tough scoring conditions to make a bogey-free start to The 152nd Open at Royal Troon.
The 43-year-old, looking to become the first English winner of The Open since Sir Nick Faldo in 1992, bounced back from three missed cuts in his last four starts to card a two-under 69 on a wet and breezy opening morning.
Rose has only posted two top-10s in The Open since coming fourth on debut as an amateur in 1998, with the former world No 1 needing to come through Final Qualifying to secure his spot for this year’s contest.
The former US Open champion sits within a shot of early clubhouse leader Justin Thomas, who posted an opening-round 68, with Rose looking to make the most of his opportunity to claim a second major victory.
“It’s a little bit of a ticking clock,” Rose admitted. “It’s obvious, isn’t it? [I’m] 44 soon and history would suggest [winning is less likely] but I think The Open offers you that opportunity maybe more than some of the other majors.
Justin Rose rolled back the years with a bogey-free 69 during the opening round at Royal Troon
“I still feel very kind of confident in myself that I can actually still improve tomorrow versus today. As long as that’s the case, I’ll keep kind of believing, for sure.
“Will I compete week in and week out at the very highest level at 44? Who knows, but I still feel like I’m a good enough golfer to find my spots and find my angles and have my weeks where it all comes together.
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Justin Rose faces a line up of five random golfers – one of them is a current or former professional, and four of them are imposters. Can he figure out who the genuine pro is?
“What I’ve been really working hard for in the last two, three years is to have the opportunity late in my career to have a couple of special, amazing opportunities. That’s what’s keeping me going.”
On his performance, Rose added: “I came off a touch disappointed today, I felt like today could be a touch special. The were opportunities on the front and back nine. Lots of things that could have gone the other way on another day though, so overall pretty happy.”
Thomas ‘heading in the right direction’ after strong start
Thomas set the early pace, having led after the opening day of last week’s Scottish Open, with the two-time PGA champion bouncing back from dropping three shots in the space of two holes from the 11th by making a birdie-birdie finish.
“I played really solid, got it around,” said Thomas, who has missed the cut in five of his last seven majors and finished his round some 14 shots better than the opening-round 82 during last year’s contest. “I felt like I had great control of the ball.
Justin Thomas is looking for a first top-10 at The Open of his career
“I hit a lot of fairways, which is a key I would say to any major, but definitely in an Open. A little bit of a hiccup in the beginning of the back nine, but stayed patient and kept plugging.
“I couldn’t even tell you what I was thinking [last year] or how it was then. I’m just worried about how I am now, and I’m very pleased with my game and know things are continuing to work in the right direction. I’ve just got to keep trying to play well.”
England’s Matt Wallace also briefly topped the leaderboard on the opening morning after sitting four under after eight holes, having holed out for eagle at the fourth, only to triple-bogey the par-four ninth on his way to an opening-round 70.
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Matt Wallace eagled the fourth hole at Royal Troon after finding the hole from 85 yards!
“Obviously the triple bogey on nine doesn’t help your scorecard, but I dealt with it great,” Wallace said. “A lot of chat this week was about having to deal with stuff that you don’t want and I dealt with those very well.
“Had that one real blip, and I didn’t play the way I wanted to start off the tee, so dealt with that, but to be in that position and then come into the clubhouse hitting it well down the stretch was really nice.
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“I think I get in my own way sometimes mentally, so I stop myself from allowing my game to come through because. I know it’s good enough and I’ve shown that – I think everyone can see that.
“I think everyone would also agree that they see me not getting the full potential out of my game, so I need to figure that out. I feel I can be competing for big tournaments. That’s what I feel I can do. I haven’t done that in a long time, so if I can start competing, I’ll be very happy.”
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