Hampshire's Justin Rose is in a strong position going into today's second round of the US Open.

The 32-year-old finished with a late brace of birdies in his first round to finish on -1 and in joint second place with Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell and home players Tiger Woods, Nick Watney and David Toms.

Michael Thompson leads on four under after opening with a 66 in San Francisco.

Rose, winner of a world championship in Miami in March, said: ''It was fun out there. You had to hit great shots to keep it in play and to get it close to the hole.

''You can't get ahead of yourself for one second out there. It's going to be a long, hard week ahead of all of us and that's really my mindset.

''It's sort of sadistic fun. Mediocre stuff gets penalised for the most part.''