Rose Fires Himself Into Open Mix

Justin Rose surges through the field with a record-equalling 64 at Carnoustie

Rose Fires Himself Into Open Mix

Justin Rose fired a faultless 64 to tie the Open record score at Carnoustie to surge up the leaderboard and into contention for the Claret Jug.

The Englishman holed a lengthy putt on the final green on Friday just to make the cut, and he's now given him an outside chance of contenting on Sunday after a scintillating back nine of 30.

When his final putt rolled in he was just two adrift of overnight leaders Zach Johnson and Kevin Kisner, both of who were not on the course.

Despite bettering Friday's score by nine shots, Rose knows he'll need a little help from the elements if he's to mount a serious challenge on Sunday.

"It feels a little benign right now," said Rose. "We need the tide to change and the winds to pick up. That's always part of it. You never know quite what to expect.

"It's forecast to build a little bit more this afternoon. It hasn't seem to pick up all week. Until tomorrow it's forecast to blow pretty hard. I felt like those late couple birdies certainly will make tomorrow at least interesting."

It could have been a lot different for the 37-year-old had he not made the most of a lucky break on the 1st. Having pulled his tee shot into the rough, his approach caught a mound and rolled out to eight feet from where he converted the first of seven birdies.

His next came at the par-5 6th before his putter caught fire on the back nine, where he reeled off birdies at the 10th, 13th, 14th and 17th.

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The final hole was kind to Rose once again and his iron approach to eight feet was worthy of a closing birdie.

"So I think the birdie on 18 last night freed me up, and I'm just very happy to be out on this golf course and not down the road somewhere else this morning," said the former US Open champion.

"So that might have been part of the shift in mindset today. Obviously, I had nothing to lose from that point of view.

"I think momentum-wise, birdieing the very first hole, picking up where I left off last night, got me well into the round early."