Rose takes slim lead at Fort Worth

LOS ANGELES: Britain’s Justin Rose fired a six-under par 64 Friday to grab the second-round lead at the US PGA Fort Worth Invitational, boosting his confidence for next month’s US Open.

The 37-year-old Englishman, who won his lone major title at the 2013 US Open, stood on 10-under par 130 after 36 holes at Colonial Country Club.

He had a one-shot lead over Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo, who carded a three-under par 67 for 131 as changing wind and swiftly falling temperatures made for tougher scoring conditions in the afternoon.

“The way I played through the first 15 holes today was about as good as I’ve played in a long time,” Rose said.

Rose, whose most recent win came at last December’s Indonesian Masters, also won last year at Shanghai and Turkey and took gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics since last winning on US soil at New Orleans in 2015.

Rose, seeking his 22nd career title and ninth overall on the US PGA circuit, began on the back nine and birdied three consecutive holes, sandwiching nine-foot birdie putts at 14 and the par-three 16th around a two-footer at 15.

He opened his second nine with back-to-back birdies, then made his longest putts of the day for birdies from 35 feet at the sixth and 16 feet at the seventh.

“I did a lot of good things,” Rose said. “The end of my round got a little scrappy but until the last three holes it was pretty flawless. I hit every fairway pretty much and I hit every green out there up until that point.

“I left a few out there on the greens early but I didn’t get frustrated. I made a little nine-footer on my fifth hole of the day which kind of took the lid off it and from there got into a nice rhythm really.”