The China Mail - Rose rockets to Masters lead with Scheffler and McIlroy in pursuit

All eyes were on top-ranked Scheffler and world number two McIlroy, but 44-year-old Rose was the familiar name atop the leaderboard at Augusta National, where he has had at least a share of the first-round lead four times but never gone on to win.

Rose flirted with the Augusta National course record of 63, clenching his fist in celebration after draining a 19-foot birdie putt at the 16th to reach eight-under.

Wayward drives left him in the trees at 17 and 18 and after salvaging one par, Rose closed with his first bogey of the day at the last.

He walked off the course three strokes clear of Scheffler, Canadian Corey Conners and McIlroy, the first two in the clubhouse on 68 and McIlroy, who was four-under through 14 holes.

Rose leapt out of the gate with birdies at the first three holes, then grabbed three more at the eighth, ninth and 10th before another pair at 15 and 16.

Scheffler, trying to join Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods as the only players to win two straight Masters titles, was his usual unflappable self in producing a bogey-free four-under par 68 that put him tied in the clubhouse with Canadian Corey Conners.

"Anytime you can keep a card clean out here, it's a really good thing," Scheffler said. "I had to make two really good up-and-downs, but other than that, the golf course was in front of me most of the day, kept the ball in play, did a lot of really good things out there."

Scheffler opened his birdie account with a four-footer at the par-five second.

He then rattled in a 62-foot birdie putt at the fourth. After just missing another long birdie putt at the sixth, Scheffler got up and down for par from a bunker at the seventh.

- Awesome shot -

He nabbed his third birdie of the day at the par-five eighth, where his tee shot found the first cut of rough and his second shot settled unpromisingly in a divot but he calmly rolled in a 14-foot putt.

"Just one of those deals," Scheffler said of the "pretty deep" divot. "I hit a really awesome shot to get it to about 15 feet.

"I had to put it in the back of my stance, stand close to it, make sure I got ball first and I hit this kind of low skipper... spun it to the right of that hill and gave myself a good look that I was able to knock it in."

Scheffler ended a run of seven straight pars with a 42-foot birdie bomb at the par-three 16th.

Conners birdied three of the last four holes, snaking in a 24-foot birdie putt at 17 and a 13-footer at the last.

"I scored the ball really well," Conners said after hitting 14 of 18 greens in regulation. "I wasn’t thrilled with some of my iron play, mis-hit a few shots, but I was able to scramble and get the ball in the hole."

England's Tyrrell Hatton got to four-under, but a bogey at 17 saw him finish with a three-under 69, with compatriot Aaron Rai and Australian Jason Day among a group on two-under 70.

McIlroy, trying for the 11th time to become just the sixth player to claim a career Grand Slam, shook off the frustration of a near-birdie miss at the second, picking up his first birdie of the day at the third, then adding birdies at the eighth and ninth to make the turn three-under.

He had a look at eagle at the par-five 13th, where his birdie pulled him into the group sharing second.

Q.Yam--ThChM