Team captain Jim Durr led the way for his Ohio foursome in the opening round of the U.S. Senior Challenge, and thanks in part to his contribution of four birdies to the team score, Ohio is 3 under and three ahead of the competition.
Just a week after the end of the college golf season, the U.S. Senior Challenge presents a unique senior amateur opportunity for players to get that team atmosphere by competing in four-man teams representing their home state. That was particularly apparent in Tuesday’s first round at Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, Virginia, when each four-man team was paired together and the team score consisted of the three best scores on each hole.
Playing in that format, Ohio reached 3-under 213 for the day despite starting a bit behind the 8-ball when the team counted a birdie, a bogey and a double on their opening 13th hole (the first round featured a shot-gun start).
The beauty of the event, as noted by Mike Quinlan, executive director of the U.S. Senior Challenge, is that there’s always a chance to come back, and that was Ohio’s story of the day.
“You can sort of relive your college glory days and travel with three other guys on your team and have a really fun week,” Quinlan said before the tournament, “because even if you did really poorly one day, you’re always wanting to be part of that team score, to have one of the low three scores.”
The California team captained by Nicholas Bock and the Texas team captained by Gary Mundy are both even par after the opening day.
From here, the teams split and do battle on their own as players continue to compete not only for the team title, but for the individual title in each of four age divisions. In the second round, players will be grouped according to their first-round score. A state team score will be figured based on the best three 18-hole scores on each four-man team.
Individually, Crispin Fuentes fired the round of the day with a 2-under 69 that left him one ahead of Durr and Tommy Reynolds in the super senior division.
Bill Engel also was in the red for the day and his 1-under 70 left him with a one-shot lead in the super legend division.
Trey Womack, at 1-over 72, leads the senior division and a three-man tie at 2 over in the legend division includes Dan Pouliot, Brad Mosing and Richard Doebler.
