Rose happy with fast start at KLM Open

2008-08-21

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By Mark Garrod PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ZANDVOORT, Netherlands (Ticker)—Justin Rose has taken another step toward winning his first Ryder Cup cap - but only after a night when he wondered if he was ever going to get to sleep.

Although Dutchman Rolf Muntz was the star of Thursday’s opening round of the KLM Open with a 6-under-par 64, Rose is among those chasing him hard.

Having pulled out of the FedEx Cup first leg in America to try to clinch his Ryder Cup debut, the world No. 12 had a bogey-free 67.

“Now I’m looking forward to an afternoon nap,” Rose said. “It must have been 3:00 when I got to sleep - I had a coffee at dinner and there must have been rocket fuel in it. I wasn’t as rested as I would have liked, but I got away with it. I didn’t play particularly well, but I guess I managed it well.

“When you are a pro, you learn how to make the most of your game when you are not tip-top. I’m really pleased - I knew coming here that there would be a lot of attention on the Ryder Cup, but I just had to try to get into the mindset of playing tournament golf.”

Starting on the back nine, Rose birdied the 11th, fourth and sixth and during monsoon-like conditions over the closing stretch, he scrambled brilliantly to avoid losing ground.

Muntz, no longer a European Tour card holder and forced to qualify for the event, was in the first group out and avoided the worst of the weather.

He still had to capitalize, of course, but did with six birdies.

“It’s awesome playing in front of your home crowd,” Muntz said. “It was a gorgeous round - the kind you plan on paper and it actually works out.”

Rose lies eighth on the Ryder Cup table and therefore needs to avoid three players going past him by the end of next week.

The only one of the leading candidates to score better than him Thursday was Dane Soren Hansen, currently in the 10th and last automatic spot.

Hansen, who made a late decision to enter the tournament because of the Ryder Cup situation, hit back from a double-bogey on the ninth with what he called a “spectacular” inward 30 and shares second place with England’s John Bickerton.