Dave Marr Jr., son of 1965 PGA Championship winner Dave Marr, is a broadcaster for The Golf Channel and covers the Champion's Tour. He shares his thoughts this week with www.ussenioropen.com:

I knew I should have rented that car with the never-lost GPS system. The sign says Prarie Dunes, the layout says Muirfield … Scotland, not Village. According to Tom Watson, this was seaside land 200 million years ago. Was Perry Maxwell ahead of his time banking on global warming to facilitate an oceanic return to the plains of Kansas? Whatever the longitude, this fabulous links-style course offered some wonderful stories early during the first round of this championship.

Massy Kuramoto is a friendly Japanese golfer who needs some good finishes in order to retain his exemption for next year. He had an opening 68 Thursday. He hasn't shot higher than 70 in three events and looks to fulfill the promise of his medalist honors at the 2005 Champions Tour Qualifying Tournament.

Vicente Fernandez won his first tournament the same day fellow Argentine Roberto De Vicenzo won the 1967 Open Championship at this year's venue, Hoylake. The man they call Chino got it to 3 under but finished even par. The Golf Channel will tell his story about hiding out as a prominent Argentine in London during the Falkland Islands war tonight on Golf Central.

Jay Haas has continued his excellent play. Having won the first major championship of the year on the 50-and-over circuit, Haas says he's close to regaining the form that led to three consecutive victories earlier in the season. Look out if he does. Today he "scraped it around" with a 67. More from Haas on the Golf Channel's Post-game show this evening.

Defending Champion Alan Doyle would have made the cut at the U.S. Open if Steve Stricker had only holed out from the bunker once instead of twice on Friday at Winged Foot. His last round in this championship wasn't half bad, a 63 on Sunday at the NCR Club to beat Greg Norman, among others. To this day when he arrives at the practice area, his pals Jim Thorpe and Dana Quigley hum the theme music from Jaws, and call him "Shark Killer."

With talented players tightly packed at the top of the leader board. this year's edition of the U.S. Senior Open seems poised to repeat the drama of the last.