Steady Rose puts himself in prime position heading into the

Score-wise, Rose was treading water. Still, conserving pars that could have been bogeys are momentum-builders, especially with players like Bryson DeChambeau, Viktor Hovland and Rory McIlroy making their charges near the lead – and defending champ Scottie Scheffler just beginning his second round by the time Rose was completed.

That’s the kind of leaderboard Rose wishes to top, and it makes him feel much better to see his name in there with all the top-ranked young weapons rather than a lower field.

“Yeah, it does. Yeah, you understand, that’s the company that I expect to keep, and that’s where I have tried to be my whole profession,” he stated. “That’s where I’ve been for a great deal of my career. So I’ve been a top-10 player on the planet for a decade or more. So yeah, this is great to, undoubtedly, yeah, be back in that mix, a hundred percent.”

Rose was the solo leader through 36 holes in 2004, only to shoot 81 on Saturday to tie for 22nd while Phil Mickelson made his long-awaited major breakthrough to win the green coat. He was alone on top 17 years later on, only to fade with a Sunday 74 that left him five shots behind Hideki Matsuyama in seventh place.He’s now held more 18-hole leads than anybody in Masters history, a record he drew from six-time champion Jack Nicklaus. He did plenty on Friday to keep his name at the beginning of the discussion about the weekend contenders, so what will the weekend hold as he pursues his first green coat?

It definitely would assist to keep playing the type of steady golf that gave him the lead.

“Yeah, it was excellent. I imply, it’s sort of like when you think of just well-rounded golf, like that’s what it was,” playing partner Max Homa stated. “He undoubtedly struck a lots of great shots. He made a lot of putts the last couple days, especially the other day. When he ran out position he had some actually difficult pitches and made them look extremely simple. Total plan type golf for 2 days.

“I believe that’s why you see ball games so low. Out here I do not think you can bully it in this wind. I seem like that’s what he did. He was extremely consistent, and I mean that through the bag. Like when he was out of position a chip was excellent, holed a great deal of putts, and hit enough incredible drives and incredible iron shots to make a lot of birdies.”