Toms - solid opening round (Allsport)

Justin Rose had his first taste today of the weird and wonderful world of Tiger Woods - and came out smelling of roses.

Rose did not just impress the man chasing golf's first-ever Grand Slam of all four majors in one season.

He prompted Woods to say that the British youngster might even be the one to stop him.

The world number one's dream remains very much alive after an opening one-under-par 70 that began with a trip to the hay and an incident with a Japanese photographer.

But Rose shot 68 and goes into the second round joint fourth - the position that made him a household name at Birkdale four years ago - only one shot behind Swede Carl Pettersson and Americans David Toms and Duffy Waldorf.

Still 12 days away from his 22nd birthday and the youngest player taking part, Rose knew he faced one of the toughest challenges of his blossoming career when he was paired with Woods.

But the sport's most improved player - up from 444th to 41st with his four wins already this year - was not content just lapping up the atmosphere and calling it part of his learning curve.

Asked if he thought Rose could beat him, indeed beat everybody, Woods said: "I think he has a chance.

"He definitely has the talent and if he executes the shots he will do fine.

"He's a great kid and he played well. He managed his way round the way he's supposed to and he posted a wonderful score."

Told of Woods's comments Rose commented: "I know I have the game to win if all goes well. A lot of guys have - it's a matter of producing it.

"What Tiger has said is very complimentary. I was just trying to focus on my own game and it's about trying to get your name on that big yellow leaderboard.

"I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I was pretty nervous on the first tee - more than I have been all year - but I nailed my two-iron and that settled me.

"I had the self-confidence to believe I could cope with everything that the day threw up.

"There is definitely an aura about him and the first time is a bit of an eye-opener, but I didn't get caught up with what goes on."

What went on was the expected media frenzy and it upset Woods straightaway.

One ill-timed click from a photographer led to him carving his opening drive and as he prepared to hack out he snapped: "You guys have enough fricking pictures. You did it on the tee, now you are doing it again."

His mood probably would have darkened further if he had double-bogeyed the hole as he feared he might from the lie he had, but he thrashed it down the fairway a pitch to five feet saved him his par.

Rose matched that and then signalled his intentions by hitting his approach to three feet on the next and six feet at the third.

Both birdie putts went in, but the best was yet to come. On the 508-yard ninth his majestic 244-yard four-iron almost went in for an albatross.

It finished six feet behind the flag and when the eagle putt dropped the youngster was out in 32.

He did bogey the 10th and there were to be no more birdies let alone eagles, but the reception he, Woods and Shigeki Maruyama (also round in 68) received coming down the last reminded Rose of Birkdale.

Asked if, because of the 21 missed cuts with which he started his professional career, he felt more like a battle-hardened pro than the youngest player in the event Rose said: "I think the battle-hardened pro, to be honest."

That should stand him in good stead. He is, of course, playing with Woods again tomorrow. And maybe at the weekend too.

Woods was happy enough with how he played - and dismissed suspicion that his back was troubling him.

He said the reason he bent down slowly to retrieve his ball from the hole sometimes was that physios have advised him to do it.

Pettersson did not start until two hours after Rose had finished - and by the time he reached the 18th just about the entire crowd had departed for the day.

On his debut in the championship, the 24-year-old from Gothenburg - he actually lives in North Carolina now - arrived there as the outright leader, but bogeyed it to fall back alongside Toms and Waldorf.

Waldorf, standing out from the crowd with his floral shirt and hat, had earlier birdied the last from 14 feet for his 67, while Toms, who dethroned Woods as US PGA champion last August, looked in fine form as he began his attempt to improve on his fourth place finish on his debut at St Andrews two years ago.

Rose was part of an 12-way tie for fourth that also included 1985 winner Sandy Lyle, out of the golfing wildernes s after 10 barren years, 1994 champion Nick Price world number two Phil Mickelson and Ireland's 49-year-old Des Smyth.

Colin Montgomerie, two under after three, disappointed badly after that and returned a three-over 74, while Nick Faldo, on his 45th birthday, bogeyed the last for 73.

Defending champion David Duval, Lee Westwood, Darren Clarke and Ian Woosnam were already in on that mark - Duval has not won since Lytham and missed the cut in the first two majors this season - but Paul Lawrie and Ernie Els were among those to match Woods's 70.

Padraig Harrington did one better than that and took up a very handy position, while Sergio Garcia came back from three over to level.

Collated first round scores (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 71):

(x) denotes amateur

67 Duffy Waldorf (USA), David Toms (USA), Carl Pettersson (Swe)

68 Des Smyth, Sandy Lyle, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn), Justin Rose, Thomas Bjorn (Den), Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra), Steve Jones (USA), Len Mattiace (USA), Nick Price (Zim), Phil Mickelson (USA), Soren Hansen (Den), Stephen Ames (Tri)

69 Mark O'Meara (USA), Padraig Harrington, Ian Poulter, Ian Garbutt, Taichi Teshima (Jpn), Corey Pavin (USA), Steve Stricker (USA)

70 Niclas Fasth (Swe), Ernie Els (Rsa), Brad Faxon (USA), Paul Lawrie, Tiger Woods (USA), Chris Riley (USA), Bradley Dredge, Bob Tway (USA), Tim Clark (Rsa), Kenichi Kuboya (Jpn), Jose Coceres (Arg), Tom Lehman (USA), Lee Janzen (USA), Marc Farry (Fra), Jarrod Moseley (Aus)<

71 Steve Elkington (Aus), Jeff Maggert (USA), Stewart Cink (USA), Toru Taniguchi (Jpn), Dean Wilson (USA), Justin Leonard (USA), Greg Norman (Aus), Sergio Garcia (Spa), Scott McCarron (USA), Andrew Coltart, Anders Hanson (Den), Retief Goosen (Rsa), Rocco Mediate (USA), Jim Furyk (USA), Davis Love III (USA), Billy Mayfair, Mikko Ilonen (Fin), Bob Estes (USA), Stephen Leaney (Aus), Neal Lancaster (USA), Raymond Russell, Warren Bennett

72 Peter Lonard (Aus), Ian Woosnam, Thomas Levet (Fra), Peter O'Malley (Aus), Paul McGinley, Lee Westwood, Chris DiMarco (USA), Eduardo Romero, Shingo Katayama (Jpn), David Duval (USA), Scott Verplank (USA), Craig Parry (Aus), Robert Karlsson (Swe), Bernhard Langer (Ger), Paul Casey, Pierre Fulke (Swe), Richard Green (Aus), Roger Wessels (Rsa), Gary Evans, Joe Durant (USA), Vijay Singh (Fij), Jesper Parnevik (Swe), Darren Clarke, Craig Perks (Nzl), Magnus Persson (Swe), Trevor Immelman (Rsa)

73 Angel Cabrera (Arg), Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Mike Weir (Can), David Howell, Stuart Appleby (Aus), Scott Laycock (Aus), Esteban Toledo (Mex), David Park, Paul Eales, Alex Cejka (Ger), Luke Donald, Jerry Kelly (USA), Robert Allenby (Aus), Kevin Sutherland (USA), KJ Choi (Kor), Nick Faldo, Jose Maria Olzabal (Spa), John Bickerton, Tim Petrovic (USA), Matthew Cort

74 Frank Lickliter (USA), Dudley Hart (USA), John Cook (USA), Loren Roberts (USA), Mark Calcavecchia (USA), John Daly (USA) , Raphael Jacquelin (Fra), Fredrik Andersson (Swe), Jim Carter (USA), Roger Chapman, Chris Smith (USA), Scott Hoch, Colin Montgomerie, Michael Campbell (Nzl), Barry Lane, Hal Sutton (USA), (x) John Kemp, Jonathan Kaye (USA)

75 Peter Baker, Patrik Sjoland (Swe), Mathias Gronberg (Swe), Tsuneyuki Nakajima (Jpn), Phillip Price, Matt Kuchar (USA), Tom Whitehouse, Gary Emerson, Adam Mednick (Swe)

76 James Kingston (Rsa), Ian Stanley (Aus), Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg), (x) Simon Young, Benn Barham, Malcolm Mackenzie, Toshimitsu Izawa (Jpn), Greg Owen, John Senden (Aus)

77 Kiyoshi Miyazato (Jpn), Tom Watson (USA), Adam Scott (Aus), Billy Andrade (USA), (x) Alejandro Larrazabal (Spa), Jamie Spence

78 Fredrik Jacobson (Swe), Scott Henderson, Mattias Eliasson (Swe), John Riegger (USA)

79 Toru Suzuki (Jpn), Andrew Oldcorn

80 Darren Fichardt (Rsa), Thongchai Jaidee (Tha)

84 Paul Mayoh