Justin Rose Focuses On The Big Picture As He Pursues Contention At The Masters

Justin Rose stays focused on the wider goal at The Masters, even after late errors in round one at Augusta National. The 45-year-old posted a two-under 70 in the season's first major, yet finished frustrated by mistakes on the closing stretch.

Rose dropped shots on each of the final two holes, and three times over the last five. Those bogeys turned a possible lower score into a 70, but Rose still viewed the day as positive, especially given how demanding Augusta National played across the opening round.

The opening 70 left Rose in a share of sixth place, three strokes behind joint-leaders Rory McIlroy and Sam Burns. Rose sits alongside Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Shane Lowry on two-under, keeping within reach of the top of the Masters leaderboard.

Former Masters winner Patrick Reed leads the group on three-under in tied-third, joined by Jason Day and Kurt Kitayama. Tommy Fleetwood opened with a one-under 71 and is among seven players in a share of 10th, leaving several contenders clustered near Rose after 18 holes.

Rose comes into this Masters with a strong record at Augusta. Rose finished runner-up to Rory McIlroy 12 months earlier, lost a play-off to Sergio Garcia in 2017, and tied for second behind Jordan Spieth in 2015. Rose feels those experiences strengthen belief for this weekend.

"I'm a little hot [after thebogey-bogey finish], but I've got to look at the big picture," he said. "It was a good round of golf, and it felt like the course was playing quite challenging. It was a day to be patient. I was doing a nice job of that, but then the course was getting a bit firmer towards the end of the day, and I made a couple of poor mistakes. Small margins and I got it a little wrong on a couple of occasions. But overall, a pretty good start to the tournament and I can build on it. The lesson [from three previous runners-up finishes] is that I can win here. There's nothing I can say I need to massively do differently. It's just about, in the moment, finding that special shot. Until then, it's doing what I am doing and not forcing a win."

Rose leaves the first round placed well on the Masters leaderboard, despite the late slip. Past near-misses at Augusta National still shape belief that a Green Jacket is possible, and Rose now aims to tighten those small errors while keeping patient across the remaining rounds.