Ace provides real tonic for Rose

Justin Rose, sick with a stomach bug before the start, had the first hole-in-one of his European Tour career today and is on course to snatch the Order of Merit title this weekend.

Rose, surviving on just two energy bars all day because he felt so ill, aced Valderrama’s 196-yard third and finished the opening round of the season-ending Volvo Masters with a one-under-par 70 – good enough in the windy conditions for joint third, two strokes behind leader Graeme McDowell.