Rodger Davis has taken a one shot lead in the 2011 ISPS Handa Australian Senior Open after fine but windy conditions during Round 1 at Lake Karrinyup Country Club. As the rain cleared across Perth, players teed off with their amateur partners testing their games on the highly regarded but taxing course. Davis, minus his trademark plus fours, had a solid back 9 turning at 1 under par before consecutive birdies at the par four 6th and par five 7th. With only 2 bogies on the card, Davis said his ball striking was great throughout the day missing only one green in regulation but he struggled with the greens. I struggled a bit more on the greens which were pretty grainy not something I was expecting and that made chipping pretty difficult, he said. The greens weren t too quick because you can struggle on this course if they do get too quick with the wind and the slope of the greens. Davis holds a 1 shot lead over West Australian Lyndsay Stephen and Texan Scott Puzey. Stephen got off to a shaky start with a bogey on 10 but recovered beautifully with birdies on 12, 14 and 15. Even par on the back nine saw him finish 2 under par for the day. Puzey, who only turned professional in 2011 after a successful business career finished his round strong to also shoot 2 under par. On even par are rookie senior Terry Price and USA based Australian Graham Bannister. Some of the tournament fancies found the going tough in Round 1. Last week s Fiducian Australian Senior PGA Champion Peter Fowler signed for a 2 over par 74. One shot better than Fowler were former British Open Champion Ian Baker-Finch and former ISPS Handa Australian Senior Open Champion Michael Harwood as well as West Australian Wayne Smith and course architect Michael Clayton. Tomorrow s second round gets underway from 10.30am. Entry for spectators is a gold coin donation going to the ISPS Handa Japan Relief Fund.
Author: