Fansided

Justin Rose rides hot finish to take lead at Dell Technologies Championship

By David Salituro

NORTON, MA - AUGUST 31: Justin Rose of England waves to fans after making a birdie putt on the ninth hole green during the first round of the Dell Technologies Championship at TPC Boston on August 31, 2018 in Norton, Massachusetts. (Photo by Keyur Khamar/PGA TOUR)
NORTON, MA - AUGUST 31: Justin Rose of England waves to fans after making a birdie putt on the ninth hole green during the first round of the Dell Technologies Championship at TPC Boston on August 31, 2018 in Norton, Massachusetts. (Photo by Keyur Khamar/PGA TOUR) /
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Justin Rose birdied three of his last four holes on Friday on his way to an opening round six-under 65 and a one shot lead at the Dell Technologies Championship.

Justin Rose used a strong finish to charge to the top of the leaderboard after the first round of the Dell Technologies Championship on Friday.

Rose birdied three of his last four holes at TPC Boston, knocking his approach shot to within five feet each time, to open with a six-under round of 65. He leads by one over Russell Knox and Abraham Ancer, who each shot 66.

The hot finish was just the culmination of an already solid round by the 38-year-old Englishman. Rose, sixth in the FedEx Cup standings coming into the week, didn’t make a bogey while carding six birdies. Those last three birdies, he says, turned a good round into a great one.

“Just keeping the card clean made the birdies really count for something,” he said after the round. “To birdie three of the last four made a good day a very good day.”

Rose didn’t exactly come to Boston in fine form, missing the cut at The Northern Trust last week. It didn’t hurt his confidence, however. Rather than come to Boston early to practice, he stayed home in the Bahamas for six days and only arrived at the Dell Technologies last night. That he was able to flip the switch from one week to the next doesn’t surprise him.

“I know how quick this game can change. So I never think about a missed cut as anything more than what it was that particular week,” he said. “Weirdly last week I felt comfortable with my game tee to green. I struggled on the greens with my speed and never got into seeing the lines. That was the problem last week.”

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Tiger Woods, playing the Dell Technologies for the first time in five years, got off to an inauspicious start. His caddie, Joe LaCava, handed him the wrong club on his opening tee shot at the 10th. Instead of a three-wood, Woods instead walked up to the ball with a five-wood. Realizing the mistake, he quickly changed clubs then proceeded to hit it out of bounds, from where he made bogey. Woods made three birdies on the round to go with four bogeys in an opening round of one-over 72.

He says the key for rebounding tomorrow is finding a way to put the ball in better spots and give himself more chances for birdie.

“When I did miss it, I missed in bad spots,” he said. “Hopefully, tomorrow I can miss in correct spots and make a few more birdies than I did today.”

Surprisingly, it was his iron game that let Woods down on Friday. He was stellar on the greens after switching to a new putter this week for the third time this season.

“I putted beautifully today, I really did,” he said. “I hit a lot of good putts, and just have to give myself more looks out of them. I didn’t hit the ball close enough.”

Chris Kirk, Beau Hossler, Keegan Bradley and Gary Woodland are tied for fourth, two shots behind Rose. World No. 1 Dustin Johnson, second in the FedEx Cup, is three behind after an opening 68. Bryson DeChambeau, last week’s winner and leader of the FedEx Cup standings, is at one-under.

Rose will look to continue where he left off at 9:03 a.m. EST on Saturday.

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