Ensure Classic; Peter Senior surged to early lead in opening round - Recap
The Ensure Classic takes place in September/ October of each year at the Rock Barn golf club. The event has been consistently featuring the strongest fields on the Champions Tour. Yet again the star-studded group of professionals
conquered the top of the leader board.
Ironically the player who is standing alone at the first spot is someone who has not claimed any victory on the American soil; Peter Senior is the name of this professional. He aced the par-5 18th hole to bypass the trio of Fred
Couples, Bernhard Langer and Tom Kite. He wrapped up the opening round with a 7-under par 65.
Couples, Langer and Kite took the second spot of the leader board and they were making their way into the second round with a score of 6-under 66. They were being followed by a group of five players that included Nick Price and
Hal Sutton. They had posted 5-under 67.
A little below was another group of four players who had taken the fourth spot of the first day leader board. This group included Jay Haas who is the defending champion and the two time winner of the Ensure Classic. He carded a
score of 4-under than 68.
The first day leader, Senior has been winless in America although he has 26 victories worldwide, but his best finish on the PGA tour is the second place finish at The International in 1990. This is Senior’s first year on the Championship
tour. He has earned the tour card from last year’s national qualifying tournament. However, he got surprised when he saw his name over 78 other names. According to the Aussie, his game had lost its form in last five weeks and he had been performing terribly.
He quoted, “The most important thing in this game, especially when you’re trying to change something, is to go out and do something early in the round therefore I hit a couple of good shots to the first (hole), and then when I hit a seven iron to the second
I had about a 10-footer for birdie, and a five iron to within about 10 feet at the third.”
According to the experts, Senior gave a superb performance on the field. His lead seemed evident from the front nine when he smashed three consecutive birdies in five of his opening holes. Later he picked up another at the par-5
seventh. The closing charm was done by his wedge shot within 15 feet on the par-3 15th and the 3-wood that birdied the 18th hole from six feet. The 51-year-old made an excellent eagle putt and stole the show from right under the nose
of the three stars that were already on the top.
As for Langer and Couples, they had made the cut in the Ensure Classic in pursuit of the Charles Schwab Cup. Both were first and second on the CSC points. The duo, much like the rest of the field, was able to take advantage of
the early start as rain soaked the scorecard of most of the players. Rest of the field had failed to tackle the greens and hence had produced an average of 71.154 which was a full stroke below par.
Golfers, though, still had to compete with terrible conditions that swept the 7,090-yard Jones course.
As said by Langer, “It was pretty strong and gusting at times, when you play in trees and up and down, it’s always hard to figure out how the wind will affect your play.”
So the overall round up of the first day stated that despite all odds, Peter Senior had surged to early lead with Bernhard Langer, Fred Couples and Tom Kite on the chase.
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