Justin Rose in a "great spot" despite shooting 73 at British Masters
Justin Rose narrowly stayed in the mix after a 3-over front nine.
Justin Rose has just narrowly held onto his lead after a tough second round at The Belfry for the Betfred British Masters.
The 42-year-old opened the tournament, hosted by Sir Nick Faldo, on Thursday with an impressive 7-under 65.
The top-ranked player in the field at this week's DP World Tour event, Rose had a one-stroke lead over Jamie Donaldson through 18 holes.
However, Friday's round played out much differently for the major winner.
He struggled from the get-go with a bogey at the par-4 1st.
And despite the handful of pars that followed, Rose ultimately went birdie-less in in his front nine to card a 3-over 39 at the turn.
His back nine continued the same trend, with another opening bogey. This time it came at the par-4 10th.
Things only began to change for the 11-time PGA Tour winner at the par-3 12th when he finally made his first, much-needed birdie of the round.
It kick started a back-nine effort to salvage the day, ultimately cutting his 4-over par to just a 1-over 73.
Those crucial birdies on the back nine allowed Rose to narrowly hold onto a share of the lead at 6-under par.
Frances's Antoine Rozner joined him atop the leaderboard, after shooting rounds of 70 and 68.
"If I had gone and shot 76 today, I'd have walked off and been quite bewildered because I did not play that badly but the score had slipped away from me after ten holes and that is what it is," Rose told the DP World Tour. "The scorecard doesn't lie at the end of the day.
He added:
Behind Rose and Rozner, seven players were tied at 5-under par, including defending champion Thorbjorn Olesen.
Scotland's Robert MacIntyre was part of the group two-strokes back at 4-under.
