The 145th Open: Justin Rose says missing the Scottish Open has helped his preparations
By Raz Mirza
Last Updated: 16/07/16 3:30pm
Justin Rose felt that spending time working on his game a week in advance of The Open has helped him build his confidence after carding an opening-round 68.
The 35-year-old Englishman has recently recovered from a back injury which has meant he has only played twice in two months heading to Royal Troon.
He was part of a high-profile group involving Jordan Spieth and Shane Lowry on Thursday and was one of the few players to play the back nine better than the front, the 2013 US Open champion going out in 35 but coming back in 33 thanks to birdies on the 15th and 16th.
"I played really well from the outset and what pleased me was how I came back [on the sixth hole]," said Rose, who is eager to extract the positives from his game.
"I didn't make birdie there and I felt as if I had already let a few slip past because you saw some guys making some early birdies. Then I had 20-feet up the hill for birdie at number seven and got a little impatient possibly and tried to wrap it in but sent it three-an-a-half-foot by and missed that one.
"From that point onwards I was quite happy with the way I settled down because you know you've got that meat of the golf course to come so to shoot three-under from the ninth in, I was very happy with that."
World No 7 Rose came in with an exceptional 33 on the back nine and although the wind dropped off slightly, he produced an impressive display, which included seven pars and two birdies.
"The greens are tricky to read," said Rose. "They're quite subtle. Your eyes, it's quit hard to pick up whether it's right edge or left edge. If you do hit a positive putt then it's going to go in but you have to be thinking quite positive and you have to risk three or four feet coming back to make putts around here. If it's dribbling to the hole, I feel like it falls off its line quite quickly."
Rose opted not to take part at the Scottish Open a week before the third major of the year and instead arrived at Royal Troon in order to spend time working on his game.
Watch the video above to hear Rose reflecting on his round with Tim Barter at the Sky Cart.
"I enjoyed my summer holidays in Troon. You can see the tan has evaporated pretty quickly," joked Rose. "I just felt I needed to work on my game. If I went home down south to see friends and family I might get a little bit distracted and not get enough work done so I felt like I could hide away up here and do nothing but golf for a week.
"I really feel like it's paid off. I feel comfortable with the way I'm hitting it, a lot better than it was in Akron [at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational] so I feel confident with the week ahead."
Masters champion Danny Willett was forced to settle for a par score 71 as he looked to adopt an aggressive approach, but struggled to get to grips with the greens.
"I've been working for a long time on the greens. It's tough when they're this slow to get a good mixture between hitting them, rolling them, and then obviously your line differs depending on the pace, this and that and the other," Willett said.
"I always find it tricky when the greens are so slow to get it rolling on line, because you pick a nice line, what you think is a nice line, obviously when you're hitting it so firm through the grass and it takes a skip or a bounce and obviously it's not great when it's in the air. So it's a big difference to quick greens."
The 28-year-old Yorkshireman felt he missed an opportunity, but will now focus his attentions on producing a better score on Friday.
"It could have been a really good day," he said. "It ended up just being average when the scoring conditions are as good as you can really ask for out here. It would have been nice to post a decent number, so I'm just going to have to wait, go do some practise and see where it finishes at the end of the day."
