Fernandez’s Fantastic 64 Sends Him Into Lead

60 Players Make Cut, But None Are Amateurs

By Ken Klavon, USGA

Toledo, Ohio – Had course designer Donald Ross been alive Friday, he may have fallen to his knees and cried uncle.

That’s because Vincente Fernandez made the Inverness Club’s 6,983-yard par-71 layout look more like a muni course, sizzling his way to a 7-under 64 and the outright lead midway through 2003 U.S. Senior Open. Fernandez, who sits at 5-under 137, leap-frogged Tom Watson atop the leader board by one stroke. Bruce Lietzke stood three back at 2-under 140.

Allen Doyle was the only other player to break par for 36 holes (1 under 140). Sixty players made the cut, which was established at 9-over 151, but no amateurs will be around for the weekend. The closest was University of Florida golf coach and 1986 U.S. Amateur champion Buddy Alexander, who missed by a shot.

Fernandez’s 64 tied four players – R.W. Eaks, Bruce Fleisher, Orville Moody and Jay Sigel – for the second-lowest round in championship history. However, Moody was 8-under par at Laurel Valley Golf Club in 1989 and Sigel 6 under. Don Pooley had a 63 last year at Caves Valley, which is the Senior Open record.

Afterward, Fernandez was dazed when asked to describe his round.

"It’s a super senior moment. I can’t remember, I’m sorry," he said.

How could he forget? The 57-year-old Fernandez, runner-up to Hale Irwin at Riviera Country Club in 1998, had two stretches that put him in the driver’s seat.

	Bruce Lietzke stayed in contention by posting a even-par round on Friday. (Steve Gibbons/USGA)

Starting on No. 10, he carded two birdies and an eagle on three of his first four holes. The eagle narrowly missed being a double eagle when, from 202 yards downwind to the hole, his 6-iron approach kissed the front edge of the green before tumbling toward the flagstick. The ball popped out, leaving him a tap-in eagle putt.

His second stretch of birdies that catapulted him past Watson came on his final three holes. At the par-5 seventh, he holed out from 30 feet.

The next hole, the par-5 eighth, was trickier because he had pushed his drive into the right rough. Capitalizing off a decent lie, he pitched out 120 yards before hitting a sand wedge inches from the hole.

A 10-foot putt at the ninth, his last of the day, gave him the outright lead.

Heavy rain had saturated the course Thursday evening, making the greens softer. The greens were so spongy early in the day that approach shots were causing deep indentations on the putting surfaces. Warm and sunny weather Friday started drying out the course in the afternoon, but Fernandez said it was easier.

"I don’t think anybody can anticipate to shoot a 64 on this course," said Fernandez through his strong Spanish accent. "That was not even in my dreams."

Dreaming is what Watson, 53, has been doing when it comes to a Senior Open title. Holder of eight major championships, he’s talked of wanting to win this event ever since joining the Champions Tour three years ago.

Despite taking eight more putts compared to his first round (32 versus 24), Watson held the fort by making par. Twelve of them in fact.

"Most of my birdie opportunities were in the 30- to 50-foot range," said Watson, who made the cut at the U.S. Open at Olympia Fields two weeks ago. "That’s tough when you’re not getting it close [to the hole]."

There was nothing fancy about his second round except that he all but kept the head cover on his driver. Only a couple times did he pull it out, instead relying on his 2-iron off the tee on the par-4 holes.

At one point Lietzke caught Watson at 5 under during the round, but then stumbled with a double bogey on the par-4 fifth hole before finishing up with a bogey on No. 9, his last hole.

Someone told him that course architect Arthur Hills, who made revisions to Inverness in the late 1990s, had picked him to win.

"If a 1925 Donald Ross picked me, I might be more impressed," said Lietzke.

Defending champion Don Pooley avoided missing the cut, shooting 3-over 145. The last defending champ to not play the weekend was Bruce Fleisher last year at Caves Valley.

Doyle, an amateur until he was almost 50, has ties to the USGA. He’s played on three USA Walker Cup teams and three World Amateur squads. In the 1992 U.S. Amateur, he reached the semifinals before losing to eventual champion Justin Leonard. This is Doyle’s fourth Senior Open, with his best finish at tie for fourth in 2001 at Salem (Mass.) Country Club.

"These are the easy days," Doyle said of the first two rounds. "You don’t get too excited on Thursday and Friday. The work starts now."

Speaking of work, that’s what two-time Senior Open champion Jack Nicklaus had to do in his second round, stabilizing at 2-over 73 after opening with a 6-over 77 that didn’t leave him happy.

Nicklaus took four fewer bogeys and struck more fairways and greens in regulation. His biggest problem was not taking advantage of scoring opportunities. On Thursday, he failed to hole several putts inside 10 feet and through 36 holes, he has 59 putts, 29 of which came in Friday’s second round.

"I suppose I was more disappointed in my own attitude," he said. "I didn’t really want to play. And even coming to the golf course [Thursday] with [wife] Barbara, I said, ‘You know, I don’t really want to play.’

"And if you don’t want to play, you’re not going to play well. I shouldn’t say ‘I don’t want to play.’ I want to play. I want to play well."

One note of interest, Arnold Palmer did not make the cut, finishing 25-over 167.

Ken Klavon is the USGA Web Editor. E-mail him at kklavon@usga.org with questions and comments.