Pooley Opens Title Defense With Consistency

By Brendan Tierney, USGA

Toledo, Ohio -- After missing the cut at the Senior PGA Championship and the U.S. Open, defending Senior Open champion Don Pooley had reasons to doubt whether he could stay in the hunt for a second consecutive title at Inverness this week.

After all, he has played only three tournaments this year due to shoulder surgery and an ailing lower back, and as a result, he took the Tuesday practice round off to focus on healing up for the first round.

It must have worked.

Showing shades of his Senior Open performance last year, the 51 year old finished with 17 pars and one bogey for a score of 1-over 72 on the difficult Inverness golf course. The performance erased self doubt that had crept in earlier in the week.

"I’m very pleased with the round," said Pooley, who started on No. 10. "It’s the best I’ve played all year."

Pooley’s injuries did not seem to phase him at all during the round, where he hit 10 of 15 fairways.

"I went after it with my swing," he said. "Things were a little sore, and I wasn’t sure how they were going to react, but they got looser as the day went on."

Pooley was incredibly consistent from start to finish, with the lone slipup coming on the second

	Off-season shoulder surgery had Don Pooley readjusting his goals coming in to this week. The injury was also the reason behind his loss of confidence. (Steve Gibbons/USGA)

hole, where he teed off into a bunker on the left side of the fairway. He followed that up with another bunker shot in front of the green.

A model of consistency, he scored par on his first 10 holes.

"I had a few opportunities for birdies," he said of 6-foot putts on the 15th and fourth holes, "but they were on the wrong side of the hole."

There was very little to complain about, and even the golf course seemed to be a little easier on the golfers than most expected.

"It didn’t play as tough as it did Monday," said Pooley. "The greens were a little softer, a little slower. It was a very fair but very difficult test, just as it should be."

Comparing it to Caves Valley, last year’s Senior Open site where Pooley won his only senior event, he said the greens would have to be controlled more at Inverness.

It’s early enough in the championship that Pooley knows his chances are as good as anyone’s. It means he’ll have to catch Tom Watson, who he beat in a thrilling playoff last year. Watson shot a 5-under 66 Thursday.

"Except for one guy, I’m right there," he said. "That’s a fantastic round that Tom played."

Brendan Tierney is a second-year Fellow with the USGA Foundation. E-mail him at btierney@usga.org with questions or comments.