Aces Galore At Bellerive

By Alex Miceli

Town and Country, Mo. – It didn't take long for the fireworks to begin at Bellerive Country Club in Thursday's first round. 

John Aubrey, 53 of Butler, Pa., was in the lead group off the first tee and made the first hole-in-one in the championship. At the time it was the eighth hole-in-one in U.S. Senior Open history, but it would not be the last.

Mike McCullough, 59, of Scottsdale, Ariz., made an ace shortly afterward on the par-3 13^th, and then in the afternoon wave, Patrick Tallent, 51 of Vienna, Va., followed that up with another ace on the par-3 third to make it the 10^th hole-in-one in Senior Open history.

Using an 8-iron from 145-yards for his ace, Aubrey briefly jumped into the lead at 3 under par and stayed there until a bogey at the 10^th hole dropped him to 2 under. He was tied for 11^th.

"I fixed the ball mark maybe about a foot and a half from it," said Aubrey. "It must have bounced forward and spun back in."

Tallent used a 9-iron for his fifth ace of his career.  Surprisingly, three of his first four came at prestigious courses: Winged Foot, Merion and Quaker Ridge.  He now adds Bellerive to the list.

"When you hitting to that green you hopping to hit the green," said Tallent of his tee shot.  "But I hit it on a perfect line, three steps left of the hole and it backed into the hole.  It was good as I can hit."

McCullough used a 5-iron on the par-3 13^th, which measured 179 yards.

"The hole was hidden and I could only see half the flagstick," said McCullough after his 2-over 73.  "The ball landed six or seven feet short and must have hopped in."

It was McCullough's seventh or eighth ace, he was unsure, but he was very sure it was the first in a tournament in a long time.

The ace barrage brings back memories of the 1989 U.S. Open at Oak Hill when four players, Doug Weaver, Mark Wiebe, Jerry Pate and Nick Price made aces on the same hole, the par-3 sixth in the second round.  It was the last time more than two aces occurred in the same round in a USGA championship.

Jerry Pate is in this year's field and remembers that day at Oak Hill, hearing the roars from the crowd as he came around the course.  When he came to the tee, Pate knew he would be the third that day.

"When I came to the tee I told an old caddie that's dead now, Leroy Schultz, ‘Leroy I'm going to hole this seven-iron [in],'" said Pate. "I told him before I hit it, and I hit it and it spun back right in the hole. The fans yelled and everybody went crazy and it was three of them in a matter of 40 minutes." 

Pate would walk off the green, and in the next group Price made the final ace of the round.

Pate had success on the third hole in Thursday's first round, hitting the flagstick on the fly and making 5-footer for a birdie two. 

"It would have been close to going in," said Pate of his tee shot on the third.  "If you give guys 135-yard 9-iron shots, then you are going to come pretty close."  

The three holes-in-one in Thursday's first round was both a U.S. Senior Open record and a Champions Tour record.

Easy Hole

The third hole, where two of the aces occurred, was the 17^th easiest hole on the course in the first round with 89.7 players hitting it in regulation. It had a stroke average of only 2.890. The hardest hole was the converted par-4 10^th. With a stroke average of 4.538 it yielded only five birdies to 57 bogeys and 16 double bogeys.

Tough Greens

Before the championship started the, 25^th Senior Open was likely to be known for the treacherous greens, which are the signature of Bellerive Country Club.  After the first round the greens didn't disappoint. They were the focus of several press interviews.

"Almost every pin today I thought was a Sunday pin," said Lietzke after he bogeyed the last three holes to shoot a 4-over 75.  "The pins were just the hardest ones I think they had and I don't know if that means they are going to reuse them for Sunday or they even have more things in store for us."  

To no one's surprise, Ben Crenshaw had little problems with the greens in the first round, taking only 26 putts to tie for the putting lead with 1997 Senior Open winner Graham Marsh and 1986 Senior Open winner Dale Douglass. All three are tied for 27^th at even par.

Stat I

Twenty-six in the starting field finished under par and 39 players were at par or better after the first round.  The 26 was the second-lowest number for the first round and was four off the record, which was set at Saucon Valley C.C. in 2000.

Stat II

There were only four bogey-free rounds Thursday. Craig Stadler (5 under), Jay Haas (4 under), Gil Morgan (3 under) and Jay Sigel (2 under) got around Bellerive without a blemish on their scorecard.

Stan The Man

Arnie's Army had one very well known spectator following the King in the first round.  Cardinals Hall of Famer Stan Musial made an appearance at Bellerive and shook hands with Arnold Palmer on his first hole.

"I had dinner with him the other night so we were talking about it," said Palmer of the meeting along the 10^th hole with Musial.

Amateurs

Of the 26 amateurs in this year's field, none could break par in the first round.  The closest was Pat Tallent when he shot a 1-over 72.

Alex Miceli is a free-lance writer whose work has appeared previously on www.ussenioropen.com.