The prodigal son returned, and was bestowed with many favours. Justin Rose, playing the European Tour's flagship event for the first time in three years, and playing for the first time anywhere since the US Masters six weeks ago, where he finished fifth, proved that all those adages and maxims about "injured golfers" are worth bearing in mind.

Yesterday, as if he'd never gone away, Rose - who has been forced to pick and choose his itinerary to prevent any recurrence of his back injury - shot an opening-round 66, six under, that put him into a share of the lead.

It was a day when his putter worked like a magic wand, and when the slices of luck that all players require in conquering a course such as this went his way.

An example? On the 15th, a par four with the onus on accuracy off the tee, Rose wildly pulled his tee shot.

But he got lucky. The ball struck the backpack of a spectator outside the ropes. If it had kicked left, he'd have finished out of bounds. If it kicked right . . . well, of course the ball kicked right; and, making the most of his good fortune, he hit a four-iron approach to 30 feet and, wouldn't you know, sank the 30-footer for a birdie.

"I felt like I stole a couple of shots there," he conceded.

He also birdied the 16th, rolling in a 12-footer.

That, though, was to be Rose's eighth and last birdie of the round as he failed to birdie either of the two par-five finishing holes. Still, it was with a grin as wide as the cat who got the cream that the 26-year-old Englishman walked off the 18th green on a day when he needed only 25 putts. Of those, 11 were single putts.

Rose, who has again taken out his European Tour card and is committed to playing the 11 events this season that will enable him to keep it as he juggles playing commitments on both sides of the Atlantic, has never had a top-10 finish in four previous appearances in the PGA at Wentworth.

And, before teeing off yesterday, he was unsure what effect the six-week lay-off since the Masters would have on him.

"I didn't know whether being fresh would play in my favour or whether being rusty would work against me.

"Obviously, I think being fresher sort of won the day," he said.

Rose, now up to 28th in the official world rankings, won't reappear in Europe again until the British Open at Carnoustie in July.

"My focus after this will obviously be the US Open (at Oakmont next month)," he said. "It's nice to get to a position where I feel I'm not chasing my tail; I can be more selective in the tournaments I play. The idea is to play better because you're fresher."

Just as it did at the Masters, when he was the first-round leader, that fresh approach worked. At the Masters, though, he eventually finished fifth.

The next step for Rose is to stay at the top of the leaderboard. That's harder said than done, though.