Justin Rose, Ian Poulter and Tommy Fleetwood rue mistakes in solid starts at Sawgrass

Justin Rose insisted he was happy with a 68 despite not being able to build on a spectacular start to The Players Championship.

Rose, playing in an all-English threeball with Ian Poulter and Tommy Fleetwood, birdied his second hole - the 11th - before going one better at the 12th, where his decision to lay up at the short par-four was justified when he holed out with a perfect 96-yard wedge.

He hit back from a three-putt bogey at 13 by nailing a birdie from over 30 feet at the next, and he mixed three further birdies with two dropped shots over the front nine as he closed on four under par.

"It was obviously a dream start, birdie, eagle, three-under through three, but I didn't make much of it from that moment on," said Rose, who could go top of the world rankings on Monday with a win at TPC Sawgrass.

"I think three bogeys is probably what halted a great round, but it's still not easy out there to keep a clean sheet. The wind was not non-existent, but it was just enough where it was moving around for the first three hours of our round. But I'm very happy with the opening 68."

On his eagle at the 12th, he added: "It's a fun little hole, a risk-reward hole, and normally if you make eagle you think you're going to have a crack at the green. But I liked where the pin was today, there's a really tough slope that's about six, eight feet to the right of the pin that makes chipping to that pin incredibly difficult and very inviting for a wedge shot.

"And I knew that I could put the wedge in there just a little bit to the right of the pin and let it spin down. As it happened I hit my wedge straight at it and it took one bounce, checked and went in. That was the reason I chose to lay up is because I liked where the pin placement was for a wedge."

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Rose also enjoyed being paired with his compatriots, with Fleetwood posting a solid 69 while last year's runner-up Poulter fired an erratic 70 which featured no pars over his last eight holes.

"It was a fun group," Rose said. "I was alerted by the PGA Tour that they were thinking about that group and it was exciting to hear it. I played with Poults in Houston and he's playing really well, it's good to see him playing well. I didn't play particularly well that day so it was nice to play a little bit better in front of him.

"And Tommy, I always love playing with him. I love the way he hits his iron shots, love his sort of curtailed finish, so that's something I always try to imagine myself doing a little bit. So he's a guy I can feed off too. There are certain guys you can work your game off and I played enough with Poults that I can club off him a little bit, so it was a comfortable pairing."

Poulter covered the back nine in two under but then mixed four birdies with as many bogeys on the outward half, and he said: "That was annoying. I played lovely on the back nine and very, very steady, a lot of good shots.

"I can accept a bogey on three. I pulled a seven-iron short left, so I was completely short-sided. But the other three bogeys were three-putt bogeys. They were all kind of 50, 60 feet from the pin, so they were all kind of lengthy two-putts, but I was just frustrated.

"I didn't get the pace right on the first putt, left it short, and the pace on the second putt was too long, rolled it five feet past and then to 12 feet short on eight. So it's disappointing. Those three-putts, take them away, and all of a sudden I'm 5-under par. So it's a bit frustrating."

Fleetwood boosted his position as he birdied each of his final three holes, and he added: "I stayed patient, really, it was really frustrating with stupid shots given away on 15, and not making birdie at two. So it was a little bit frustrating for the most part, but I could do with keeping going really right now."