Russ Cochran takes the opening round lead at the Montreal Championship
The reigning Senior Open Champion Russ Cochran fired a six-under par 66 in the opening round of the Champions Tour’s Montreal Championship, at the Vallee du Richelieu Vercheres, in Sainte-Julie, to take the sole lead on Friday, June 22, 2012.
Cochran got off to a confident start and went five-under for the round through 11 holes. Thereafter, he recorded the only bogey of his round on the par-three 13th hole.
Another two birdies on the 16th and 17th hole allowed him to take a two-stroke margin over Michael Allen, Rod Spittle, Larry Mize and Jerry Pate.
The highlight of Cochran’s performance includes birdies on each of the par-five holes on the course.
"I think that's a big deal but you know the fairways are hard to hit on the par-fives," Cochran said. "You've got crosswinds and you've got to take them diagonally over bunkers and then hit the fairway. So you've got to shape the ball right".
He also told that he liked the layout of the course, as it required perfection and quality game from the participants.
"The golf course, I think is really a fun golf course to play," said Cochran. "You're always trying to hit the fairway. And then there's a little curveball thrown at us out there as far as some of the greens got kind of firm out there, too".
Therefore, it was difficult for each of the players to make judgments on what and how to play the strokes on each of the holes.
A couple of years back, he was tied atop the leaderboard with Tom Wargo, after carding a seven-under par 65.
However, he failed to hold on to the lead and slipped down to the 10th position at the end of the tournament. It was the inaugural edition of the event and was played at the Fontainebleau Golf Club in Blainville.
This year, he plans to improve his track record with an aim of registering the first victory of the 2012 Champions Tour season.
He came close to victories four times but failed because of some putting issues he had early in the season. He has recorded a total of four top-10 finishes so far in the current season.
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