Justin Rose had one of the most impressive performances of all 156 players in the first round of The Open Championship.
Rose shot a two-under-par 69 at Royal Portrush, which left him two strokes behind the leading quintet on day one.
The most impressive aspect of the Englishman’s round was that he did not make a single bogey. It was nothing short of a masterclass in how to play links golf.
This was despite Rose not knowing something important about the golf course at Royal Portrush until just hours before he stood on the first tee.
Justin Rose didn’t know something important about Royal Portrush until The Open started
Arguably, the most-remembered shot from the last Open Championship at Royal Portrush in 2019 was Rory McIlroy’s drive out of bounds on the very first hole.
McIlroy effectively blew his chance of winning the tournament with a nightmare start that resulted in a quadruple bogey.
Somehow, that moment must have escaped Justin Rose, who said that he was unaware of the out-of-bounds on the left side of the first hole.
“Yeah, I actually didn’t even know there was out-of-bounds until I watched the television this morning, swear to God,” he explained.
“I was like, I knew there was out-of-bounds right, I had no idea there was out-of-bounds left. I was like, ‘Ugh,’ there are some things you don’t want to see, right?
“Yeah, listen, it is what it is. I don’t really know why it’s there, if I’m honest. Yeah, but I feel like one side is enough, yeah.”
Rose’s European Ryder Cup teammate, Viktor Hovland, was asked for his thoughts on the out-of-bounds on both sides of the first hole.
“You’ve got to hit a pretty bad shot to hit it OB left to right, but sure, it adds a little bit extra to it,” he answered. “I think it’s a cool hole.”
Justin Rose comments on the speed of play at The Open Championship
The biggest talking point on day one at The Open Championship was the speed of play. The players took more than six hours to complete their rounds.
This can often frustrate players, but Justin Rose did not even notice that the first round at Royal Portrush was so slow.
“I actually enjoyed the day,” he added. “I enjoyed the round. I enjoyed the challenge. I was kind of keyed into all the shots today, so I guess time was irrelevant.
“I wasn’t quite aware it was taking that long. I don’t know why. I don’t know what it was.
“There was a backlog on 7, but that can happen on tour when someone loses a ball or something happens. But don’t quite know why exactly we played so slowly today.
“But yeah, like you said, happy it’s 9:00 at night, so now the trick is to come down off the round, get your recovery in, get your food in, get your rest in, try to get to sleep at a decent hour.
“Obviously, it’s just day one, so stay focused and key into tomorrow now. It’s definitely not easy at this time of day.”
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