Justin Rose shows growing maturity

Justin Rose passed the test Thursday. Tiger Woods thinks he may be ready for the final exam.

Rose flourished in his ballyhooed grouping with the world's most dominant player, shooting a 3-under-par 68 at Muirfield Golf Links to finish the day a stroke off the lead at the British Open.

Many wondered how Rose would handle playing in a threesome with Woods and Japan's Shigeki Maruyama. He was just fine, beating one of the best players in history by two shots.

"I was pretty nervous on the first day, it must be said, more nervous than I've been all year, to be honest" Rose said. "But I nailed a 2-iron down the fairway, which settled the nerves pretty quickly."

Rose never unraveled. He birdied the second and third holes, eagled the ninth and finished with eight straight pars to grab a share of the clubhouse lead before a trio of players carded 67s.

"It is a nice position to be in after day one," said Rose, who will be 22 in two weeks. "And day two is jostling for position, shot for shot, getting your name on the leaderboard come the weekend."

Jostling for position is what fans do as they try to get a close look at Woods. Many players are distracted by the attention, but Rose wasn't.

"I didn't know exactly how I was going to react, but I did know I had the ability to cope with it," he said. "And so in that sense, it's nice to have done all the right things out there.

"There definitely is an aura about him. I think the first time you play with him, it is a bit of an eye-opener, but I didn't get caught up in watching him or all the stuff that goes on around him."

Rose started strongly, sinking a four-foot birdie putt at the second hole and a 10-footer at the third. He settled for five consecutive pars before making eagle at the ninth.

Faced with 244 yards to the 508-yard par-5, Rose landed a 4-iron short of the green and watched as the ball nearly rolled into the hole for a rare double-eagle. He ended up dropping a four-footer.

"The noise of the crowd made it definitely sound like it was close to going in for 2," said Rose, who had the lead at 4-under after the eagle. "That was the best shot of the day."

Rose bogeyed the 10th hole but finished with eight straight pars. Along the way, he received recognition from Woods, who is seeking the third leg of the Grand Slam.

"He's good about shots you play and doesn't fail to acknowledge a good shot, which is all you can ask for, really, from a playing partner," Rose said.

Rose can ask for a lot from himself, having won his first two career European Tour titles this year. That's a far cry from his first two years as a professional.

After bursting onto the scene as an amateur by finishing fourth in the 1998 British Open at Royal Birksdale, Rose turned pro the next day. It seemed like a bad choice, since he went 45 events without a top-10 finish from 1999-2000.

Things began to change in 2001, when Rose placed in the top 10 four times, finishing second twice. He has been sixth or better on six occasions this season.

"I guess when I was going through my low point, it would have been a long road back to this point, definitely," said Rose, who was born in South Africa. "It would have seemed like a mountain to climb."

Now the mountain is Muirfield, where Woods thinks Rose has a chance to win.

"Well, that's very nice," Rose said. "I know I have got the game to win if all goes well."

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