Three-time Masters runner-up Justin Rose has strong Round 1 in 2026
The 2026 Masters Tournament is rolling as temperatures rise during the week. Justin Rose looks back at 2007 as when ANGC was at its most challenging.
AUGUSTA, Ga. ― Justin Rose wasn't alone in struggling on the second nine during Thursday's Round 1 of the 90th Masters Tournament , but he's one of a handful of players in the field that remembers the last time this event was this tough. With the lack of precipitation and temperatures rising throughout the weekend, the course is only going to get more challenging.
Rose's comparison went back to 2007. More: Masters leaderboard, scores, pairings, videos, more “This course can play harder if it's windy, right, and I think that's the only thing that would make it play harder really," he said. "But 2007 for me — I know Shane (Lowry) probably didn't play in 2007, but when Zach Johnson won, I felt like that was very crispy, cold, windy.
That was probably the toughest I've seen it play. ” For reference, 2007 is the last time a Masters champion finished with a winning score over par. Rose sits three shots behind the lead after what was a solid round through 16 holes.
He finished bogey-bogey on Nos. 17 and 18, two of his three squares on the second nine. A three-time Masters runner-up (2015, '17, '25), he knows as well as anyone that the leaderboard Thursday is rarely reflective of the final standings 54 holes later.