The roller-coaster nature of the golfing life of Justin Rose swooped upwards yesterday when, on another difficult day, he defied the elements and produced a five-under-par 67. It gave him a two-round total of 139, also five-under, in the Compass English Open at the Forest of Arden, and a share of the early clubhouse lead with the Italian Massimo Scarpa and Australia's Peter O'Malley.

The trio were last night overtaken by another Australian Adam Scott, whose round of 70 put him one shot clear of the South African, Jean Hugo, on seven under par. This on a day that saw two players, Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium and Jonathan Lomas of England, take sextuple-bogey 11s at the long 12th while Roger Winchester had relative success, needing only nine.

Paul McGinley is the best of the Irish after shooting a three-under-par 69 while Darren Clarke is well off the pace after his round of 72.

For the second successive day fewer than 20 players finished under par, and the cut mark ended up to be as much as six over par.

Rose's early professional career, when he missed the cut in his first 21 events as a professional, has been all too well documented, but of all the people who kept the faith, Rose himself was the vital one. Remarkably, he remained level headed during a period that might have ruined someone of lesser character.

Already he has finished second twice in European Tour events played in South Africa, once to Scott in the Alfred Dunhill Championship, and this weekend he will play with the leaders for the first time in his native country.

This has been a week, of course, when obfuscations and evasions are described as being "crystal clear" and "perfectly plain". But that is the language of politicians campaigning in the British elections and it is not supposed to spread into golf. So when, after his first round 76 on Thursday, Colin Montgomerie, said: "My back is fine, there is nothing wrong with it. I wish I could use it as an excuse, but I can't, unfortunately," he was taken at his word.

Imagine the surprise, therefore, when Montgomerie played three full holes from the 10th yesterday and then pulled up short of his fourth green, the 13th, having played four shots without reaching the putting surface. He could not go on. It was, he said, his back. He was taken on a buggy back to the clubhouse where he retired from the tournament.