Australia’s Rod Pampling opened with two birdies and went on to hold a two-shot lead after the first round of the US Senior Open on Thursday in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.
Despite making a double bogey near the end of his round, Pampling shot a 3-under-par 68 at SentryWorld. Mike Small, Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez and South Africa’s Retief Goosen share second place at 70.
Bob Sowards, Jeff Maggert, Jerry Kelly, David Toms, Ken Tanigawa, Germany’s Bernhard Langer, Australia’s Richard Green, Brazil’s Adilson da Silva and South Africans Ernie Els and James Kingston are tied for fifth at 71.
Steve Stricker, who won the previous two PGA Tour Champions majors this year, is among a group of eight players tied for 15th at 72.
Pampling, 53, has won just once on the senior circuit, when he captured the 2021 Boeing Classic.
On Thursday, he started on the back nine and produced a wild round that featured seven birdies, two bogeys and the double bogey at the par-4 sixth hole.
“It was obviously a fun day,” Pampling said. “I’d been playing well for the last month or so. To get here and see the course, it felt good. I drove it really well and made a lot of birdies out there. Just the one hole made a little mistake on, tried to get a little too aggressive.
“On the whole, I putted it really well, which was nice to see the balls going in. It’s nice to get a good view of the greens and can pick the breaks early on.”
Small, the men’s golf coach at the University of Illinois, is competing in his 73rd career PGA Tour Champions event while looking for his first top-five finish.
He birdied his first three holes, starting on the back nine, and had six birdies and three bogeys before closing with a double bogey on the par-4 ninth hole.
“For not playing a lot of tournament golf, I held it in there,” Small said. “I didn’t hit many fairways today, and that caught up with me on the last hole. The last hole was probably the best drive I hit it all day. But that’s just a weird hole when they take a par 5 and turn it into a par 4 and move the tee up. That’s a weird deal. And then I left myself a bad layup. (Even so,) it was a good day.” Other notables in the field include Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie (72), South Korea’s K J Choi (73), Fiji’s Vijay Singh (74), Ireland’s Padraig Harrington (74) and Mark O’Meara (74).
Chiefs duo beats Warriors pair in The Match VIII
A pair of Super Bowl champions earned bragging rights over a pair of NBA champions in The Match VIII, a celebrity golf showdown on Thursday in Las Vegas.
Kansas City Chiefs teammates Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce emerged with a 3-and-2 win over Golden State Warriors teammates Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson at the Wynn Golf Club. The scheduled 12-hole match ended after the Chiefs matched the Warriors’ birdie on the 10th hole.
Mahomes improved to 1-1 in the Match series, having previously lost alongside Josh Allen while opposing Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers in an all-quarterback showdown last June.
Curry fell to 0-2 in the event, as he and Peyton Manning lost to Phil Mickelson and Charles Barkley in November 2020.
The first two editions featured Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods, and Mickelson played in the first four editions.
Rod Pampling of Australia writes in his yardage book on the sixth hole during the first round of the US Senior Open Championship at SentryWorld in Stevens Point, Wisconsin. (AFP)
