After three days of taking notes and adjusting to the 100-foot cedar trees of Sahalee Country Club, the star-studded field in the 2010 U.S. Senior Open teed off Thursday morning in a quest for a championship, and a relative unknown sits at the top of the leaderboard.
Bruce Vaughan, a former fireman from Kansas who enjoyed only mediocre success on the smaller tours before breaking out two years ago with a win at the Senior British Open, fired a 4-under-par 66 to pace the field.
Vaughan, who started on the 10th tee, sank a key putt on the tough 465-yard par-4 18th.
“I had a good drive on 18 there… and hit a nice high 5‑iron and it flew hole high and it went 35 feet by the hole,” he recalled. “James Mason, who I was playing with, he was right behind me, so I kind of got the speed and a little bit of the line… and I made it.”
With about one-third of the field still on the course as of press time, a number of notables remain in contention after the first round.
Local favorite Fred Couples overcame a shaky start – two bogeys in his first three holes – by birdieing holes 4-6 and ended up at even-par 70, along with his playing partner Tom Watson.
“I was very mediocre and made a couple of great up and downs,” Couples said. “I think the score I shot is phenomenal, I would have taken 70 before the round started. But the way Tom played, that was really fun to watch, he never missed a shot.”
Other notables under par after the first round are Loren Roberts at -2, along with Mark Calcavecchia, Joe Ozaki – the youngest of the three Ozaki brothers from Japan – and 1996 British Open champion Tom Lehman at -1.
Nearly all of the golfers have marveled about Sahalee’s pristine course conditions and towering evergreen trees, making the U.S. Senior Open a true test of golf ability.
And the first-round scores reflected that, as of the 156 players that teed off on Thursday, only eight broke par, and 43 players shot 80 or higher.
“(The trees) get in your way, and they’re positioned on several holes to be right in your way, so you really have to be very accurate on how you play the golf course,” Watson commented. “The other thing is the firmness of the greens. The firmness of the greens is probably as hard as I’ve seen a green in America in a long time.”
Three golfers withdrew from the tournament earlier this week, including marquee names Nick Price and Paul Azinger — both with foot injuries — along with Tom Pernice Jr.
After a two hour and 12 minute fog delay this morning, play will continue today before the field is cut for this weekend’s third and final-round action.
For local fans without tickets, the tournament can be viewed on ESPN2 from 2-6 p.m., today, and from 1-4 p.m., Saturday and Sunday on NBC.
For more information on the tournament, go to www.2010ussenioropen.com.
