Brad Burns holds a one-shot lead over Lucien Tinkler, Peter Fowler and Peter Senior after the opening round of the Lincoln Place NSW Senior Open.
The trio’s matching 5-under par rounds were the talk of the clubhouse post-round, with conditions making the Thurgoona layout a challenge.
The conditions meant for nothing, however, and by mid-afternoon, it seemed Burn’s lead would fall.
Former Australian Open Champion Peter Fowler was the only player of the afternoon bracket to reach six under, but a bogey on the 17th saw him fall back into a tie for second.
Earlier in the afternoon it was Peter O’Malley who made a move. The renown ball-striker moved to within a shot of the lead with only a few holes to play. Sadly for him back to back bogeys saw on the final two holes saw him drop back into a tie for 6th place.
O’Malley’s playing Partner Peter Senior was in the mix all day. a three-under-par front nine from the Queensland legend ensure he was close. Birdies on 15 and 17 ensured hie got into the clubhouse with a share of second place.
Senior was happy with his opening first round, although he lamented his group’s inability to take advantage of a few scoring opportunities.
‘There’s a lot of opportunities here if you hit a lot of good shots, the greens are really good.
“but between the three of us, we dropped a heap of shots on the par-fives.”
“Apart from them, the boys played pretty well,” Senior said.
Lucien Tinkler was also a very happy man after his opening round 67,
“I’m very happy with it,” Tinkler smiled. ” I was just saying to the boys, it’s nice to get off to a good start.”
Starting on the tenth, Tinkler crafted his way to a one-under opening nine, before scorching his way around the front in just 32 shots, including an eagle on the 7th, for his five-under total.
” I knew (Brad) Burns was six-under before I hit off, and I said to myself, jeez he’s been playing well lately.
“I haven’t been playing much lately, and when I have, not that well either,
“I came here with a different attitude this week came and it seems to be paying off.
“If I can keep to this over the next couple of days and just play golf, let’s see what happens,” Tinkler smiled.
Leader Board:
66: Brad Burns
67: Peter Senior, Peter Fowler, Lucien Tinkler
68: John Wade
69: Peter O’Malley, Mark Tickle, Simon Tooman
70: Richard Gilkie, Niel Sarkies, Shaquille Mongol