JUSTIN ROSE's golfing nightmare ended in sensational style in Austria last night.

The talented Hampshire teenager emerged from a season of trouble and strife on the European PGA Tour by shooting a sizzling 64 in the first round of the Diners Club Austrian Open at Millstater See.

It was Rose's debut on the European PGA Challenge Tour, effectively the second division of European golf, and it couldn't have produced a more astonishing turnaround in form.

After battling the bogies on the main tour, the 18-year-old from Hook near Basingstoke, was basking in birdies.

Six of them flowed during a flawless six-under-par round when he didn't shed a single shot and grabbed a share of the first round lead with Neil Turley and France's Pascal Edmond in the £55,000 Austrian event.

Rose said: "It was just solid golf. No eagles, or chip-ins. I only missed one fair-way and two greens. I used the four wood or the two iron to keep the ball in play and it worked. It will be nice to go out today not having to fight to make the cut."

Ironically if Rose had delayed his journey to Austria by a day, he wouldn't have been playing. He got a late call to play in the German Open in Berlin, but his mother Annie said: "The call came just a few hours after he'd gone to catch his plane."

Rose hasn't earned a paycheque since turning professional in the glorious after-glow of finishing joint fourth in the Open at Birkdale last July.

Barring an absolute disaster in his sec-ond round today, the youngster is well on his way to rectifying that.

The former Walker Cup star turned to the Challenge Tour after the promoters of last week's English and this week's German Opens ruled that he wasn't playing well enough to merit a place. He'd originally been on the reserve list for Germany.

Three more Hampshire players are in good shape to beat the halfway cut in Austria. Richard Bland (Stoneham), Matt Blackey (Hayling) and Scott Watson from Chineham all carded level par 70s.

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