The 152nd Open: Justin Rose makes impressive start in bid to win Claret Jug at Royal Troon

By Mathieu Wood

Justin Rose admitted he was facing a race against time to fulfil one of his career ambitions as he made a strong start in his pursuit of the Claret Jug at The 152nd Open.

The Englishman is making his 21st start at the Open Championship this week after coming through Final Qualifying at Burnham and Berrow earlier this month.

At 43, former World Number One Rose is among the most experienced players in the game and he showed his pedigree to card a bogey-free 69 in wet and windy conditions on the opening morning at Royal Troon.

That left him alongside fellow DP World Tour members Nicolai Højgaard and Alex Noren, one off the early pace set by two-time Major winner Justin Thomas, who finished with back-to-back birdies.

"History would suggest so," replied Rose when asked if he felt if he was facing a "ticking clock" in his bid to add to his sole previous Major crown at the U.S. Open in 2013.

"But I think The Open offers you that opportunity maybe more than some of the other majors.

"I still feel very confident in myself that I can actually still improve tomorrow versus today. As long as that's the case, I'll keep kind of believing for sure.

"Obviously it's a special event for me being a Brit. It's the one I've dreamed about winning ever since I was a kid, so obviously you've got to be in it to win it. That was the first part of the jigsaw puzzle was to make sure I qualified."

I've been around long enough to know what I'm capable of

Now ranked 67th on the Official World Golf Ranking, Rose came into the final Major Championship of the year on the back of three missed cuts in his last four starts.

However, despite a lack of form, the four-time Ryder Cup winner is undeterred in his determination to challenge for golf’s biggest honours.

“I've been around long enough to know what I'm capable of,” he added.

“I know how I'm feeling in the moment, can kind of get inspired by the situation. Been pretty good in my career at sort of winning the special ones.

“Yeah, that's kind of what I've been really working hard for the last two, three years is to have the opportunity late in my career to have a couple of special amazing opportunities. That's what's keeping me going.

“Will I compete week in and week out at the very, very, very highest level at 44? Who knows, but I still feel like I'm a good enough golfer to find my spots and find my angles and have my weeks where it all comes together.”

Among the early starters in the first round, Rose made birdies at the par-four third and seventh, before salvaging a par at the Postage Stamp par-three eighth with an up-and-down from a greenside bunker after being distracted by noise from the galleries.

"It started to rain a little bit, so there was a lot of noise with the umbrellas, and I think right in my backswing someone must have dropped an umbrella or something," he reflected.

"Came out of the shot a little bit, and obviously with the wind off the left, you're not going to get away with it on that particular hole.

"Given that, I was playing so nicely, and once you're in the bunker down there, you're like, kind of anything can happen.

"Yeah, it was a tough miss, but great up-and-down, and obviously that was great to keep the momentum up in my round at that point for sure."

From there he was flawless, playing the back nine in level par to set him up for a good week in the west of Scotland.

And while he conceded he felt he could hove gone lower as chances for birdies during the round slipped by, he was pleased with his course management.

"Obviously we all walk off a golf course going, oh, it could have been better, but I actually felt like there was three or four out there for me today had I been a little bit warmer with the putter," he said.

"But I hit a lot of good putts, too, so just kind of had to stay with it.

"Felt like I had a good handle on the course. I felt like I knew where the course was playing tough, where the opportunities were, and yeah, stayed focused enough to hit a lot of good shots today."