Justin Rose rolls with the punches to keep in touch with the leaders at the US PGA Championship

The weeds are no place for a man named Justin Rose, but sometimes the scenic route can still lead to good spots.

In the case of the former US Open champion, that meant a 36-hole score of one under par after following up his first-round 69 with an adventurous 70 yesterday.

That’s a solid number on this brutal stretch at Oak Hill, especially when you consider how it was accomplished. Usually this course is desperately unkind to those wayward off the tee, which is why Rose only hit two of the 14 fairways, but he rolled with the punches for a score that seemed to age well over time.

Given his place among the early starters, it was good enough for some of the clubhouse lead with Taylor Pendrith as the afternoon turned into evening locally, and he will be on the higher pitch when round three kicks off today. By then he will have been passed by some on the track.

Among them, Scottie Scheffler had reached six-under through 15, tied by Corey Conners, who had played one fewer.

Most intriguing from an English perspective was 32-year-old journeyman Callum Tarren, who picked up four strikes through 13 to reach three under.

He spent much of his career playing a fringe tour in China, so this has already been an excellent week for the world No. 169 – coincidentally, he shares the same ranking as Shaun Micheel when he won here in 2003.

As for Rory McIlroy, he was one over to 15, so no ground lost or gained in a tough first round, albeit with an improved performance off the tee.

While they were still battling the rain on the track, Rose could look back on a satisfying day at work.

“I think it went pretty well,” he said. “The golf course was tough – I also found the setup remarkably difficult given the strength of the wind. I’m happy to finish under par.

“It’s smoke and mirrors, I think. The fact that I made 10 pars is remarkable when you consider how I put the ball in play off the tee.”

Rose, who broke a four-year winless run at Pebble Beach in February, added: ‘I think historically I’ve won on harder golf courses so I think it fits my profile from that point of view.

‘This subject is at the very top and I think I’m looking forward to the test.

“Winning at Pebble Beach was important to prove I can win again. Not necessarily just winning, but how I won. I felt very, very comfortable once I got into that winning position.

“I’ve done it before, and just knowing I can do it again is important.”

In what was a long day, Rose was back on the course at 7am to complete the last four holes of his first round, which had been postponed by frost on Thursday.

He was well placed one under when he resumed on 15th and that was the same score on which he started his second loop soon after. The upside was that it would do its job in the brighter morning conditions and it capitalized well.

Rose opened on the back nine, dropped a 15-yard putt for a birdie on the 10th, scrambled a par out of the sand on the next and holed a 26-footer to get another stroke on the par-four 12th .

Tyrrell Hatton bounced back from a 77 to a 68 card in the second round to reach five over

Phil Mickelson was still able to make the cut despite being ‘terrible’ in the first two rounds

A hot putter and excellent iron play compensated for some poor drives and combined to buy Rose another birdie through the rough on 16 before a bogey on 18 set off a run of five pars in a row. It wasn’t until the sixth that Rose actually hit a fairway—his 15th hole of the round—but on the hardest par four on the course, he bogeyed to get back to two under. A third dropped shot on seven cost him one over.

Less success went to Dustin Johnson, who opened with three under on an excellent 67, but coughed up four shots in his 74 on Friday.

His playing partner, Tyrrell Hatton, went the other way with a 68 on the back of a 77 to reach five over, repairing some of the damage. That left him a shot within the projected cut of six, as did Phil Mickelson.

The opening day story belonged to world No. 122 Eric Cole, who had led under five with four to play when he resumed play in the morning. Returning to the middle of the sixth fairway, he promptly ditched his approach and his day only got worse – a second round 74 means 36-hole status with four left.