Justin Rose’s hopes of adding the Open Championship to his US Open title suffered a blow on day one at Muirfield.

The Hampshire star, who last month won the first major of his career, finished his opening round on four-over-par.

Rose drove the ball typically well, hitting 11 of 14 fairways, but appeared to be lacking sharpness elsewhere in his game.

That was perhaps little surprise, given he has only played once since his victory at Merion and has not been in action for the last three weeks.

After five consecutive pars to open up, Rose dropped his first shot at the par-four sixth, after dumping his approach shot into heavy rough out right.

Another went at the par-five ninth hole, before a bogey and then a double at 14 and 15 respectively moved him to five-over.

Rose pulled back a shot with birdie at 17, but will need a better day tomorrow if he is to make it into the weekend and stand a chance of moving into contention for a second major championship of his career.