ROSE AND CROWN

JUSTIN ROSE’S Indian summer stayed hot on a glorious spring day in Georgia yesterday.

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The Ryder Cup hero had claimed last year he was enjoying a late-career renaissance after competing at the US PGA and finishing runner-up at the Open.

Rose, now 44, repeated his forecast after his sizzling opening 65 to take the first-round lead.

He added: “Golf is not going to get easier for me in the next five, 10 years, so you have to make the most of it.”

And the 2013 US Open winner sought to do just that yesterday with a carefully controlled one-under-par 71 to take the clubhouse lead on eight-under par.

Rose broke the record he had shared with Jack Nicklaus when he led the Masters after the first round for the fifth time.

The previous times he has topped the leaderboard he has averaged shooting 74 in his second round (2004 71, 2007 75, 2008 78, 2021 72). And he has still to break 70 in his 20 Fridays here.

But in his 20th Masters, Rose showed he had learned from his previous experiences here with a game plan of using lots of 3-woods off the tee.