Justin Rose shuts out the distractions as great opportunity knocks for Englishman at the Masters following steady second round, writes RIATH AL-SAMARRAI

Justin Rose signed his second-round scorecard and then made a few plans for the evening. None of them involved watching the assortment of high-calibre chasers as they pursued his lead at the Masters.

These are exciting times for a 44-year-old whose Indian summer has enabled a pleasant spring in Augusta. But when great opportunities knock, nerves have a habit of walking in.

Hence, no television and no studying his rivals in their efforts to match the clubhouse mark he set at eight-under-par after adding a steady 71 to his opening 65.

If he did get himself to a screen, which is no easy thing here, he would have noticed a few familiar faces amassing behind him. Closest was Bryson DeChambeau, one back after a 68, but it was the next man up on six under who hijacked the attention – Rory McIlroy.

Remember him? Buried by his own chipping late on Thursday, he resurrected himself quite brilliantly on Friday morning. His round of 66 was superb and illuminated by some astonishing shot-making on the back nine that only heightened the mystery of how he has gone 11 years without a major.

Of course, you only have to rewind to his first-round collapse in the final four holes to contextualise that question.

But the ceiling of his game was shown here by fairway wedges to tap-in range for birdies at the fiendish 10th and 11th holes before an eagle on the 13th, which he fashioned with a ludicrous four iron from the pine straw. That approach flew 214 yards, narrowly clearing the greenside creek, and then came to rest just nine feet from the cup. He is very much back in the tournament he craves the most.

So too is the Canadian Corey Conners, on six under par, and Shane Lowry, who shares five under with Masters debutant Matt McCarty. Playing among the later starters, who faced the windier conditions, defending champion Scottie Scheffler was on six under with four holes to play, with Tyrrell Hatton on the same number.

Among the bigger names to miss the cut were Brooks Koepka, who fell the wrong side with an eight at the last, along with Sergio Garcia, Robert MacIntyre, Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson. Playing his last Masters, former two-time champion Bernhard Langer missed a 10-footer on the 18th to make the weekend.

While those positions were being finalised, Rose was shooting off to get his feet up. He said: ‘I won’t watch. I feel I’ve done that before and I think that’s as emotionally draining as being out there practicing all afternoon, to be honest with you.’

For Rose, the possibilities here are obvious, but so too is the historical precedent against him. On four previous occasions he had held the 18-hole lead at the Masters and has tended to flop in the next, so while a 71 is no great feat, it was also sufficient.

Having finished in the top six of both the US PGA Championship and The Open in 2024, Rose feels ready to seize a major chance.

He said: ‘On both those occasions, I got more and more comfortable as I got further and further up the leaderboard, which was really good for me to know because there had not been a ton of opportunity for the previous couple of years.

‘Given how much you dream about winning them, I felt remarkably comfortable in those situations.’

It was a little before 9am when Rose made his walk to the first, accompanied by the question of whether he could make it stick this time. A 14-foot putt for birdie on the par-five second offered a positive outlook, taking him to eight under, but this wasn’t the outward blitz of 31 that he carded on Thursday.

No, this was more attritional, less pretty. Perhaps that was best shown on the fourth, a long par-three, where Rose caught his five-wood fat and landed a long way short of the green.

He got up and down brilliantly, so no harm done, but at the next, a 495-yard monster of a par four with a nasty sweep to the left, he played for a draw and ended up yanking his drive into a fairway bunker. Bogey.

Rose retrieved the shot at the eighth, once again nailing a delicate pitch from 32 yards to five feet, and got to nine under after a delightful wedge to six feet at the iconic par-three 12th.

By this stage, a threat had come and gone from Ludvig Aberg, who got as low as five before dropping a couple, while DeChambeau was also on a charge. By the turn he had improved by four strokes to seven under, including a holed bunker shot on the fourth.

All of which meant Rose was under pressure. A bogey at 14 was corrected with a birdie two at 16, but having restored the two-shot cushion on DeChambeau, he dumped a wedge into a greenside bunker on the penultimate hole when chasing a tucked pin. Returning to eight under par, he was in danger of a closing bogey but sank a six-footer to sign for a 71.

With Rose’s score set, eyes turned to the weather – the wind was increasing, albeit not to the forecast of 25mph gusts that would have brought havoc to the later starters, most notably Scheffler.

Starting on four under after going bogey-free on Thursday, this loop was less characteristic with three dropped shots in his first 14 holes. It could have been worse but after going into the water at the par-five 15th he was able to wrestle par from the situation, having already benefited from a fortuitous bounce off a tree in his bogey at the 11th.