Eaks Ties Record, Takes Early Lead
By Ken Klavon, USGA
Baltimore, Md. -- Only five players have ever won a Senior
Open on their first attempt.
Could R.W. Eaks be next?
“I’d like to be No. 6,” said Eaks, after sitting atop the
Senior Open leaderboard with a sizzling 7-under 64 at Caves
Valley Golf Club.
Eaks, a rookie on the Senior PGA Tour, tied a first-round
record with his score. Orville Moody (1989), Bruce Fleisher
(2000) and Jay Sigel (2001) all shot first-round 64s, although
Moody’s constituted to an 8 under par, Fleisher 7 under and
Sigel 6 under.
In addition, Eaks broke the course record that was set by
John Harris in the 1995 Mid-Amateur. Harris had shot a 67.
Tom Watson, a winner of eight majors, was in the clubhouse
behind Eaks, with a 4-under 68. James Mason, a teaching pro
from Georgia, shot a 3-under 68. And last year’s second-place
finisher, Isao Aoki, was at 2 under.
Two players, Jim Thorpe and amateur Paul Simson, were at
1-under 70. Five players scored even par. However, the afternoon
groups were just getting under way. Defending champ Bruce
Fleisher teed off at 1:15 p.m.
Though it’s still early, if Eaks could hold on he would become
the youngest player to win a Senior Open. He would surpass
1986 winner Dale Douglass, who was three months, 24 days past
his 50th birthday. Eaks turned 50 on May 22.
The five players who have won Senior Opens in their first
attempt are Roberto Devicenzo (1980); Arnold Palmer (1981);
Douglass (1986); Lee Trevino (1990); and Larry Laoretti in
1992.
A member of the Buy.com Tour until joining the PGA Tour full-time
in 1998, Eaks hasn’t won this year.
“I’m having a blast,” said Eaks. “I’ve been waiting three
years for this.”
He didn’t waste any energy along the way, either. Starting
on the back nine, he recorded back-to-back birdies on 11 and
12. Through 12 holes of completion, he was 8 under.
“After I made that early eagle, I thought I could get something
going,” said Eaks. “I was just out here trying to make birdies.”
Watson was a model of consistency. Playing in a group that
consisted of Thorpe and Fuzzy Zoeller, Watson was the brightest
star. He started out with a 1-under 35 on the front nine,
which he began on, with one birdie among eight pars.
On the back nine, with the wind picking up, he notched three
more birdies. He chipped in on No. 14 for one of those. He
didn’t record any bogeys. The strength of his round, however,
was the number of fairways hit (85.7 percent).
“I was good off the tee, and that sets up any round of golf,”
said Watson.
Mason’s story is one of the more interesting ones this week.
After completing about 15 of 30 Monday qualifiers, Mason won
the NFL Golf Classic earlier this month. Mason had committed
to playing about 30 Monday qualifiers this year.
With that victory, he became just the eighth Monday qualifier
to ever win a Senior Tour event. The victory at the NFL Classic
earned him a one-year exemption on the tour.
He spent roughly $1,000 per week at each qualifier, mostly
using credit cards to offset the expense.
The victory at the NFL Classic “helped me pay off my bills,”
he said.
Mason sprinkled six birdies and a near hole-in-one into his
round, although he did double bogey No. 6, a 462-yard par
4. Trouble loomed when, from 130 yards out, he hit a pitching
wedge that didn’t get enough loft on the ball. “The rough
at the lip of the green shut it down,” said Mason. The ball
bounded into a bunker.
Then on the 196-yard par-3 No. 8, Mason stroked a 6-iron
into a left-blowing wind. The ball hopped on and stopped about
2 inches from the hole. “The gallery down there let me know
it was right close,” said Mason.
Overall, the 28 putts he took pleased him.
“My expectations are to keep my name on the leaderboard and
hope I’m there on Sunday,” said Mason.
Forecasts are calling for a chance of thunderstorms later
Thursday and on Friday. Rain would no doubt soften the greens,
which have registered 12 to 12 ½ on the stimpmeter. They’re
fast in most places, especially those holes with a shelf or
shaped like a turtle shell.
“It just takes a while to learn these greens,” said Bob Gilder,
who shot even par.
Said Thorpe: “Some greens were like glass. Some of the down-sloping
greens, you just touched it and it goes and goes.”
Watson said the course played shorter, mainly because the
heat wasn’t as oppressive as it was during the practice rounds.
“There’s nothing wrong with the course,” said Zoeller, who
shot 1-over 72. “The wind swirled up on the back nine. We
had a downwind on 10, 11 and 12, then on 13 it was in our
face.”
Ken Klavon is the USGA Web Editor. E-mail him at kklavon@usga.org.
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