For the fifth time in his career, Justin Rose of London, England is the leader after the first round of the Masters. On Thursday, Rose posted a four round score of -7 and has a three stroke lead over Canadian Corey Conners, American Scottie Scheffler, and Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg, who are tied for second place at -4.
Rose had eight birdies and one bogey. He birdied the first, second, third, eighth, ninth, 10th, 15th, and 16th holes. Rose then finished his round by bogeying the 18th hole. It should be noted the first 16 holes were as good as they could have possibly been for the 2013 United States Open champion and 2016 Olympic gold medalist. However, Rose struggled with tee shots on the 17th and 18th holes.
Just because Rose is the first round leader, does not mean he will win the tournament. Four additional times in the past Rose has been on top of the standings after 18 holes at Augusta, but has not gone on to win. In 2004, he was at -5, in 2007, he was at -3, in 2008, he was at -4, and in 2021, he was at -7.
The fact that Scheffler is in second and lurking is noteworthy. He is ranked first in the world and a two-time Masters champion in the past from 2022 and 2024. It also appears that Scheffler is healthy after lacerating his hand while making Christmas dinner. In his last PGA tournament leading up to the Masters, Scheffler finished in second place at the Houston Open, which was won by Australia’s Min Woo Lee.
