Justin Rose Holds Masters Clubhouse Lead For Fifth Time, Shoots Blistering 65

Five times now, Justin Rose has stepped into the interview room after a round in The Masters, and he's held the clubhouse lead. That's not an insignificant number, as most golfers would kill for a shot to lead golf's storied first Major Championship of the year.

The problem for Rose, is he's never been able to hold onto the lead when it mattered most. He's finished as a runner-up at Augusta National Golf Club twice. The first time came in 2015, when Jordan Spieth took home the win, four shots ahead of Rose and Phil Mickelson. The second time was in 2017, when he painfully lost to Sergio Garcia in a sudden-death playoff.

So a strong start to this year's edition of The Masters is exactly what Rose was hoping for. He leads after the first round of play, after matching his career-best round of a 7-under, 65. Were it not for a pesky bogey on 18, he would have had a shot at tying the course record.

"It was a really good day's golf on a golf course that was a stern test," Rose said after his round. "I think if you look at the overall leaderboard, not many low scores out there. A lot of quality shots, and delighted the way I played."

Rose knew he was dialed in early - he birdied the first three holes - but it wasn't until a run of birdies on 8, 9 and 10 that he knew something special was in the works.

"That's when the day felt a bit different," he said. "That's when I felt I was doing something potentially more on the special side. And you have Amen Corner to come, and you're never really ahead of yourself until you're through 12 anyway, but good pars on 11 and 12."

The round landed him the clubhouse lead for the fifth time at The Masters. It's reportedly the most number of rounds at the top of the leaderboard without having won the Green Jacket.

"You know what, I feel like I've played well enough to win this tournament. I just feel like I don't have the jacket to prove it. I've obviously played, I've played a lot of good rounds of golf here. But ultimately, you want to be last man standing on Sunday. A little bit of Lady Luck here and there is always the difference here at times."

If Rose is going to hold on to this lead, he's going to have to do it with a hungry pack of superstars lurking right behind him.

Last year's champion, and the world's best golfer right now, Scottie Scheffler is three shots back in second place at 4-under. And he's joined by a pesky Corey Conners, and last year's runner-up Ludvig Aberg.

Just behind that group is Tyrrell Hatton at 3-under, and U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau there as well.

It's worth noting that every Masters champion (other than Tiger Woods who was T11) since 2006 has been in the top 10 after the first round. That would include this list of golfers this year:

The other looming factor heading into Friday is the weather. Storms are expected to move into Augusta tonight, with a chance at more rain tomorrow.