Justin Rose happy to birdie last three holes in opening 68 in California

Justin Rose will be looking to cut out the "silly mistakes" after enduring a frustrating first round of the year at the Desert Classic.

Rose was in good form off the tee, but a few loose iron shots and several missed opportunities on the greens left him in the bottom half of the leaderboard until he finished with a flourish, making birdies at each of the last three holes to card a satisfactory four-under 68.

The world No 1 admitted at his pre-tournament press conference that it could take time for him to get comfortable with the new equipment in his bag, and it was his putter that misfired the most until he got up and running with birdies at the sixth and seventh.

Rose gave a shot back at the next before taking advantage of the long 11th, although he could not do the same two holes later as he ran up a scrappy bogey-six to slip back to one under for the round.

But, with Phil Mickelson on fire three groups behind, Rose produced an encouraging final three holes to end the day just inside the top 30 and with some momentum to take into his second round, and he is hoping there will be no repeat of the delayed start due to fog.

"For me, it's the first round of 2019, it's kind of like you're at the starting line and they kept dragging it back 30 minutes with the fog," he said. "So that was tricky just to keep warm really and keep loose. But once I got going, I felt like I played really well.

"Starting out, I felt like I could have been four, five or even six under through the first seven holes. So I left a few out there early in my round and a couple silly mistakes here and there, didn't capitalise on some short birdie putts. But birdieing my last three to get it to four-under made me feel good about kind of getting something out of the round.

"And all in all, with the new bag of clubs, I felt really good with them. I drove the ball fantastically well today and hit a lot of shots pin high with my irons. So from that point of view, a lot of things to feel good about."

As well as new equipment and clothing, Rose also has a substitute caddie on his bag this week as he has taken on Henrik Stenson's former bagman, Gareth Lord.

Rose's regular caddie, Mark Fulcher, will be unavailable for a few weeks after undergoing minor heart surgery while Rose was on the course, and the Englishman reported that Fulcher's operation was a success.

He tweeted: "Just got an update on Fooch. The operation was completed successfully and he's doing great. Some recovery ahead but Fooch will be looking forward to getting back to Team Rose stronger than ever."

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