Justin Rose leads Masters after first round; Scottie Scheffler right behind

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Scottie Scheffler was expected to be near the top of the Masters leaderboard after the first round at Augusta National Golf Club. 

But it was Justin Rose, the Englishman playing in his 20th Masters, who walked into the clubhouse with a three-stroke lead over the 2024 winner at 7-under after posting a miraculous first round Thursday. 

Rose, whose only major win came in 2013 at the U.S. Open, matched his best round ever at Augusta National, and this marks his fifth time leading after the tournament's first round. 

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Justin Rose reacts on the 18th green during the first round of the Masters. (Michael Madrid/Imagn Images)

The 44-year-old sprinted out to a 3-under start after he birdied the first three holes. After doing the same on holes 8 and 9, he finished the first nine at 5-under. He birdied 10 before coming back down to earth with four straight pars before finding more red marks on holes 15 and 16 to sit at 8-under.   

Rose was flirting with the best opening round in Masters history, Greg Norman's 9-under in 1996. But Rose couldn’t find the fairway on the narrow 18th fairway, and he finished his round with a bogey. 

However, he was all smiles after his great start. His best finishes at the Masters came in 2015 and 2017, when he finished second and tied for second, respectively. 

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There were some questions about how Scheffler would fare this week in Augusta due to him missing a few tournaments to start the year with a freak hand injury he sustained while preparing Christmas dinner. And he admitted weeks before the tournament