Justin Rose has gone back to using his Scottish Open and Gleneagles winning putter as he strives to capture a second Major Championship.

Rose posted a three under par 69 to end the round trailing three shots behind American Dustin Johnson.

“Since The Open I have gone back to using a putter that brought me some success last year, winning a couple of events and the one I took into Gleneagles,” said Rose.

“I’ve clearly had good results with it but then the other one I used at St. Andrews I was getting inconsistent using.   I was also beginning to fall into a bad habit with it, so it was sort of dragging me too much inside on the back swing, so the balance of my old putter just seemed to work a bit better today.”

England’s Justin Rose in action during the opening round of the 2015 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits (Photo: Anthony Powter)

The World No. 6 ranked Rose started on the back nine and bogeyed the 11th as he failed to get out of a greenside bunker and had to get up and down to make sure he only dropped a single shot.

Another bogey followed on the 13th but the former US Open champion bounced back with a birdie on the 14th and was under par at the turn with further birdies on the 16th and 17th.

Two more on the fifth and sixth followed and the Englishman signed for a 69 to sit three shots behind early pacesetter Dustin Johnson.

Rose was four over after 13 holes in the first round before claiming his US Open title at Merion in 2013 and he admits that has made him more philosophical in his approach to scoring.

“I just like to give the guys a chance,” he joked.

“I felt good today as well so there wasn’t really any particular rhyme or reason for it. You’re always going to have a bad stretch in a Major where you make a bogey or double and you’ve got to be resilient to win these tournaments.

“Whatever happens at the beginning or middle of the week, you’ve got to suck it up and forget that and realise that you’re not the only one making mistakes.

“It’s the perfect start, really. I think obviously when you go and shoot seven, eight or nine under in a major in the first round, it’s a lot of pressure to absorb for the rest of the week, because you’re in contention.

“It’s a platform on which I can build now for the rest of the week. You can never win it on Thursday, you can only lose it.”

While Rose suffered from a slow start to his round, it was a disappointing finish that hindered 2010 champion Martin Kaymer.

The German was four under walking up the ninth, his last, after five birdies and a bogey but a three putt double bogey saw him drop back to four shots off the lead.

An opening 70 was still two shots better than his opening round when he claimed victory here five years ago but the 30-year-old could not hide his disappointment at his late lapse.

“It was obviously a very disappointing finish,” he said.

“I played really well and hit a lot of quality shots. I gave myself a lot of chances but didn’t make many putts. I made a few here and there but I gave myself plenty of chances to shoot five or six under par, then I finished by losing two shots.

“It is very frustrating to finish like that. I hit the tee shot in the rough on the right side. It is a tough shot today with that wind. I hit it short of that bunker then I had a tricky pitch over that bunker and tried to hit a lob shot, but left it short and then three putted from 20ft.

“That’s obviously a tough one to swallow, especially in those conditions. You fight all day long to shoot a good round and so to finish that way is very frustrating.

“There were a lot of positives to take from today though, the way I hit the ball and the way I hit some putts. I was very happy about that, but under those conditions this morning, three under would have been a good round, but two under is only okay. That is why it is tough to take.”