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Round One Complete: Romero Leads But Has Company
By Ken Klavon, USGA
Kohler, Wis. – Let's hear it for the first-timers.
Upon completion of the Senior Open's weather-delayed first round, three of the top seven players on the leaderboard were making their championship debut.
Anyone would be hard-pressed to tell as Jim Woodward (5-under 67), Bruce Vaughan (4-under 68) and Ron Vlosich (3-under 69) performed like seasoned veterans. They all trailed leader Eduardo Romero, who scorched The Straits Course Thursday with a 6-under 66.
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| Gil Morgan, one of 78 players that had to complete his first round Friday, finished 3-under 69. (John Mummert/USGA) |
With the exception of Vlosich, half the field had to complete their first rounds Friday morning after a vicious storm ripped through Whistling Straits Thursday evening.
When players were pulled off the course, Vaughan (10 holes) and Woodward (nine holes) were three under. The scoreboard tightened a little more with Woodward turning in his 67 and Vaughan recording the 68, followed by three players – Vlosich, Vincente Fernandez and Jon Fiedler – at three under. Nineteen players were in the red after the first round.
A bogey on the 18th dropped Vlosich – a retired golf pro - back from four under par, while Fiedler, who qualified for the event, needed only 26 putts. The 50-year-old Vlosich, like Woodward, is appearing in his first Senior Open.
"I wasn't sure what was going to happen [Thursday], to be honest with you" said Vlosich, who struck half his fairways in regulation. "I knew I could put a good score up if I could put the ball in the fairway with the driver."
The last time Jim Woodward appeared in any kind of Open was 17 years ago.
Woodward, 50, had started the round on the 10th tee. He made a gallant charge toward Romero by registering an eagle and birdie as he made the turn. Two more birdies on the backside left him within striking distance. Woodward last played in an Open in 1990 – that being the Canadian Open, where he finished runner-up. In 1987, at The Olympic Club, Woodward tied for 17th in the U.S. Open.
The 50-year-old Vaughan, also a first-time participant in the Senior Open, stayed consistent throughout, carding five birdies and 12 pars. He played one year on the PGA Tour.
Still, none of them seemed frazzled to be competing against some of the Champion Tour's biggest stars. It didn't faze them that players like Loren Roberts (2-under 70), Tom Watson (2-under 70), Jay Haas (1-over 73) and defending champion Allen Doyle (11-over 83) were in the field. Or, on the surface, it didn't appear that way.
"It's fantastic," said Vlosich, who played in the 1982 U.S. Open and 1989 PGA Championship. "It really is. … It's a pleasure to play in a tournament like this. That's for sure."
Ken Klavon is the USGA Web Editor. E-mail him with questions or comments at kklavon@usga.org.
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