Justin Rose carded one of his “best and cleanest” rounds of the year in front of the home crowd at the Betfred British Masters at The Belfry.
The deep congregation of spectators on the 9th hole in Sutton Coldfield saw Rose hole a 25-footer for birdie – his eighth of the day which led to a 65.
The Englishman was keen to forget his missed cut at the US Open at Los Angeles Country Club and justify heavy favouritism as the DP World Tour’s headline act this week.
“I felt very comfortable with my game from the first shot really. Hit a beautiful little wedge into the 10th hole and got off to a good start,” Rose said.
“That’s probably the best, cleanest round of golf I’ve played in a long, long time, probably this year – as well as I have been playing.
“It’s a compliment (to be tournament favourite) but it doesn’t mean anything, does it? You’ve got to go and play well – if quality players play well they are going to be hard to beat, but the hard part is playing well.
“There’s a long way to go and coming off a missed cut at the US Open and then a week without too much practice, the start of the week was important to get tuned back into my feels and it’s really nice to get off to a positive start.
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“I lost my mind for about an hour there (at the US Open), I went bogey, bogey, bogey, double bogey or something, so I dropped about six shots within an hour and it killed me. Other than that, I was pretty decent at the US Open, but yeah, shake it off is what I’ve tried to.”
Rose is no stranger to topping the leaderboard at this event which he won in 2002 and his most recent win on UK turf came at the Scottish Open in 2014 – one year after his US Open triumph.
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He was level with Ryder Cup teammate Jamie Donaldson before thrilling the fans on his 18th hole on Thursday, but Donaldson was equally delighted with his round.
The Welshman, who famously scored the winning point at Gleneagles in 2014, has appeared sparingly on the DP World Tour in 2023, but took advantage of home comforts to finish on 6-under-par.
“It was a bit slow at the start, then suddenly it all kicked in on the back nine,” Donaldson said.
“I’m only an hour and 10 minutes from home, so it’s great to play on British soil. I love it, I’ve always loved playing on British soil because it’s what you’re used to, it’s what you’ve grown up with. It’s great coming to play here at The Belfry.
“Of tournaments gone by, sometimes you don’t play as well as you once have, but you just do all the same things you always did and you always do every week to enable you to hit the best shot you can at the time.”
Donaldson is a three-time winner on the DP World Tour, but nine years have passed since winning the D+D Real Czech Masters – a performance that arguably earned him his Ryder Cup debut.
With Open Championship spots up for grabs too, Donaldson is determined to cash in on some good form, to save himself the effort of 36 holes in Final Qualifying at West Lancashire next week.
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