Sydney Professional Grant Kenny was more surprised than anyone after grabbing a share of the first round lead at the NSW Senior Open with a tidy three under par 69.
Playing in the first group out off the tenth tee, the 51 year old carded four birdies and one bogey in a solid return to form.
“I’ll take it, the way I’ve been playing,” Kenny smiled.’ My game's been awful of late.”
Kenny is in his first year on the senior circuit and has only had a few starts, these days preferring to give a few lessons at Thornleigh golf centre.
“Just lessons and playing these days, watching kids grow up,” he laughed.
Kenny expected the scores to improve throughout the day on the pristine Thurgoona layout.
“The conditions are perfect, Couch fairways and there’s not a breath of wind. It’s a pleasure,” he said.
Despite seeing his name at the top of the leaderboard, Kenny isn’t placing too many expectations on himself or his game over the next two days.
“I’d love to tell you exactly what I’m going to shoot, but I can’t. If the weather stays like this they’ll eat it up,” he laughed.
Victorian Glenn Joyner joined Kenny at the top of the leaderboard despite injuring his back on the range while warming up this morning.
“It was a bit scrappy, but I putted great.”
“”I hurt my back on the range this morning so it was a bit dodgy. I had to send my mum to get the Voltaren gel from the chemist.”
“I’m going to the chiropractor this afternoon, get it straitened up,” he said.
Like Kenny, Joyner was ecstatic with the condition of the course and felt that if you hit it straight and hit greens, you would make some birdies. He warned, however, if you sprayed it a bit, the grass in the rough and the green surounds can make it a very hard test of golf.
“The course is fantastic. The greens are pure, they're running about 11. They are real tournament greens; I am loving it.”
A birdie on the last of the 53-year-old was the highlight of an eventful day for the Victorian.
“The birdie on the last was good. I had just dropped a couple of shots on the 15th and 16th.”
As for the rest of the tournmanent, Joyner, like Kenny, was non committal about how he would fare.
“I don’t have expectations in this game any more, I just go and play and see what it throws at me. You never know what you’ll get next; it could be a good one, it could be a bad one,” he smiled.