Rose bests windy conditions at Disney Classic

Miami (Reuters) Britain's Justin Rose, chasing his first PGA Tour win, took the first-round lead at the Disney Classic at Lake Buena Vista, Florida, on Thursday in windy and cool conditions.

Former European number one Rose, starting on the back nine, fired three birdies in his opening five holes and then finished his round in style with birdies on three of the last four holes to shoot a seven-under-par 65.

"It was a bogey-free round out there and although the courses aren' t the most difficult in the world, it certainly was tricky out there and even good shots at times weren' t going close to the flags because of gusting winds," said Rose, who has yet to win in 148 previous attempts on the PGA Tour.

Another Englishman, Greg Owen, was one of three players who shot 66 to be a stroke off the lead.

The 37-year-old Owen shot seven birdies and a bogey in his round in temperatures surprisingly cool for Florida. "I've got a long sleeve shirt and sweater on. It's unusual, very unusual. A couple of weeks ago it was 95 degrees (35 C). It's a nice change but hopefully it'll warm up a little bit," he said.

Owen shared second place with Americans Rickie Fowler and Casey Wittenberg.

Leading first-round scores:

65 - Justin Rose (GBR); 66 - Rickie Fowler, Greg Owen (GBR), Casey Wittenberg; 67 - Will MacKenzie, Matt Bettencourt, Cliff Kresge, Zach Johnson, Rick Price, Kris Blanks; 68 - Bill Haas, Nick O'Hern (AUS), George McNeill, Chez Reavie, Matt Weibring, Mathias Gronberg (SWE), Justin Leonard, Daniel Chopra (SWE), Chris DiMarco, Brian Gay