Maybe the USGA is getting soft in its old age.
Or perhaps the USGA was afraid of being charged with senior abuse.
Whatever the case, there was low scoring and more low scoring during Thursday’s first round of the 40th U.S. Senior Open.
The field made the Warren Course at Notre Dame University look like, well, a college golf course. By day’s end 42 players broke par in what looked like a very un-USGA-like championship.
Defending champion David Toms went out early, made a tournament record 10 birdies, and posted an eight-under par 62.
Then late in the day, Steve Stricker eagled the 17th to get to eight-under and an easy par at the 18th gave Stricks his own 62.
Stricker’s scorecard showed seven birdies, that eagle at 17 and a bogey. Toms shot his eight-under with a pair of bogeys on his card.
Kirk Triplett and Jerry Kelly were in with 64s while Vijay Singh, Duffy Waldorf and Toru Suzuki posted 65s.
It was a total scoring-fest.
Toms didn’t even realize he made 10 birdies on the day.
“I didn’t even realize that. I had forgotten what the par was,” Toms said after his day was finished. “I was just playing golf. It was a good day. Birdied the first hole, and I was like, here we go, and then gave it right back at the next hole, missed the green. Early in the round, it was just kind of up and down. I had a lot of bogeys early, short-sided myself, trying to be too aggressive, and really we had a little bit of mud issue on the ball early on, and you just had to pay attention to what you were doing, hit the smart shot, and I got too aggressive at times and paid for that,” Toms said. His second nine, the front nine, was a birdie parade, including four straight to finish the round.
“I really got hot on my last nine holes, started to make some putts, which I haven’t done in a long time, as far as consecutive, nice-length, birdie-length putts, and it was just a good, solid day. I drove it in the fairway for the most part, started to hit my irons better on the last nine, and gave myself a lot of opportunities, and ended up with a great score.”
Toms gave himself a great start on defending his title. “It’s a great round in a major championship, so I’ve got to take confidence away from that. Like I said, I haven’t been able to make putts consecutively during a round very often this year, and to do that, it gives me some confidence with the putter. I mean, you don’t expect those things, but just a little shot of confidence always helps. That’s what I’m going to take out of this round and go into the rest of the week and do the best I can.”
