Co-leader Rose masters a day that defeats most others

Justin Rose hit only five greens in regulation, but got up and down so well that he needed only 20 putts to post the only bogey-free round on Thursday. That comes as no surprise, since the young veteran has been up and down his entire career.

By T.J. Auclair, PGATOUR.com Interactive Producer

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- His birth certificate says he's 26, but in terms of golf life England's Justin Rose is an old man, if not an old pro. And none of that has anything to do with the back injury that's had him away from competitive golf for nearly a month.

With a to-die-for, bogey-free, 3-under-par 69 in the first round at a firm and fast Augusta National on Thursday -- the sole bogey-free round of the day -- Rose left the course in a share of the lead with Brett Wetterich.

Rose had three birdies in the first round. He canned a two-footer at No. 3, a 350-yard par 4, holed a bunker shot for birdie at the 455-yard fifth and nailed a 14-footer from the fringe at the 440-yard 14th.

"Obviously, it's exciting to go bogey-free on any course on any day," he said. "But first round on Augusta on a day where obviously the scores are pretty high makes it a very pleasing round -- yeah, one that I'm very happy with for sure."

This is semi-familiar territory for Rose. In his last Masters -- 2004 -- he held the lead after the first and second rounds, but crashed in the third round with a disappointing 9-over-par 81.

"I think it's certainly something that I can learn a lot from, that experience, no doubt," said Rose, who actually followed it up with a fighter's final-round 71. "I think experience is generally what makes players better and better as they go throughout their career. It's a very positive one as I look back at it.

"Sometimes you learn more from situations that go badly than when things go well. I learned a lot about the golf course that day and I learned a lot about how you've got to really pace yourself during the week and obviously the tee times are quite late on the weekend."

The tee time will be late for Rose on Friday, too, as he has the last one in the second round at 2:15 p.m., which could be a nice tune-up for the weekend. He said he has plenty of friends and family with him in Augusta this time around and will kill time by spending it with them and watching DVDs.

Rose came to fame at the tender age of 17, when as an amateur he wowed the golf world with an incredible hole-out on the 72nd hole for birdie to finish fourth in the 1998 British Open at Royal Birkdale. That was the pinnacle of his young career and he turned professional the very next day.

What ensued were many growing pains, which included scores of missed cuts and the death of his father, Ken, to cancer in 2002.

Talk about growing up fast.

Through it all, Rose stayed dedicated to improving his game and won three times worldwide in 2002. He followed that up with a tie for fifth at the U.S. Open in 2003, which tied him with Fredrik Jacobson for the best finish by a first-time participant.

Since then, he has come close to winning several times on the PGA TOUR -- including a third-place finish at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic and a fifth-place finish at the World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship this season -- but he hasn't yet been able to kick the door in.

Defending champion Phil Mickelson said one of the biggest challenges he faced Thursday were the swirling winds. But not Rose. He played around the same time as Mickelson and, interestingly, said he was so focused he didn't even notice the wind.

"There wasn't a lot of wind out there," he said. "It may have been eight miles an hour today. Let's call it an average day of wind, really. So, I think the course was more of a factor than the conditions."

Amazingly, Rose hit only five greens in regulation and had just an itsy-bitsy 20 putts, yet still got around with no bogeys. But, he warned, don't read too deeply into that.

"Sometimes statistics don't always tell the story," he said. "On more than one occasion, I felt like I was 10 or 12 feet from the pin putting for birdie, but on the fringe, in the case of a couple of two putts or a one-putt that goes down as a zero-putt. Certainly my short game was unbelievable today and that is why I managed to shoot such a good score.

"I put myself in spots where you could up-and-down the ball," he added. "Only hitting five greens, my course management was good enough that I was not short-siding myself in impossible positions where you can't get up-and-down."

Rose has been getting up-and-down for a long time and seems completely at ease with where he stands.

"I feel comfortable in my golf game," he said, "and obviously golf is a game of confidence and I feel quite confident, too."