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Stand in caddies help Scott and Rose shine
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Stand in caddies help Scott and Rose shine

Major Champions Adam Scott and Justin Rose both enjoyed having familiar faces on the bag as they made bright starts on day one of the 2021 BMW PGA Championship.

Adam Scott and Justin Rose

Rose - who regards this as his home event - is looking for a third Rolex Series win this week, while Scott is teeing it up at Wentworth Golf for the first time since 2006.

With that in mind, you might think that the playing partners would want caddies who had carried the bag round the West Course plenty of times before but situations dictated that was not possible.

Instead, Scott had coach and brother-in-law Brad Malone on the bag and their partnership produced results, with the Australian carding a seven under par 65.

"It worked good today, so we'll see how the next three days go," he said. "But he's caddied for me once before and he likes getting in there and having a look and seeing what's going on every once in a while on the course."

He added: "A lot of really good, solid stuff. Generally it was fairways and greens. There wasn't too much squirrely stuff, although a couple of wedges coming in could have been better.

"Then on 15, I got out of jail and made an incredible three. Nice to get the break and take advantage of it.

"I definitely thought the first ball was out of bounds but it must have clouded around in the trees and dropped down.

"The second ball actually night not have been any better off the tee but found the first one and punched it up there. That was a good shot, hit it 50 yards and flicked it straight at the hole."

Rose, meanwhile, had agent and close friend Paul 'Macca' McDonnell caddying as he battles to get into Padraig Harrington's Ryder Cup team, and the Englishman carded a 67.

"He was brilliant. He turned up this morning, he kept up on the golf course and he shut up," Rose joked.

"It was great, he did everything perfectly today. I could have had many different choices and options for caddies but I think someone you just know really well makes it more comfortable out there for sure."

He added: "That's a good start where I can focus on a positive scenario which is me winning the tournament to get into the team by rights - that's plan A.

"There's a lot to shake out the next few days but today was an important round. I thought with the golf course it was a very easy day to maybe shoot one, two over and just be fighting and struggling for it.

"It was nice to get off on the front foot."

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