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**truebluefan** · 05-26-2008, 03:35 AM

Royal Troon GC, Ayrshire, Scotland

**truebluefan** · 07-25-2008, 09:23 PM

After his heroics at Royal Birkdale, Greg Norman heads to Royal Troon this week alongside some of the greatest names in golf, all attempting to write another chapter in the history of The Senior Open Championship presented by MasterCard.

The 137th Open Championship was simply spellbinding – with Norman playing one of the starring roles before finishing joint third – and now attention turns to the Senior version as Scotland’s west coast provides the links backdrop for the strongest field assembled in the Championship’s 22 year history.

Major Champions Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle and Ian Woosnam will make their Senior Open Championship debuts this week, the trio among 20 Major winners in the field, which collectively has 32 regular Major victories as well as 27 Senior Major wins, with five players having both on their CV.

Starting as two of the favourites, however, will be Norman and defending champion Tom Watson – chasing a record fourth Senior Open Championship title on a course where he claimed the fourth of his five Open Championship titles in 1982, clawing back Nick Price’s three shot lead with six holes to play in a thrilling finale.

He will now try to create a unique piece of history by winning The Senior Open Championship on a third course where he also lifted The Open Championship, following his previous double victories at Turnberry and Muirfield.

Norman goes into the week searching for his maiden Senior Major and cannot come into the event in better form. The Great White Shark finished third behind Tom Watson at Royal Aberdeen in 2005 on his only appearance in The Senior Open Championship so far and showed last week he has lost none of his competitive fire.

Royal Birkdale was initially merely the warm up for Norman’s assault on The Senior Open Championship but it turned out to be an incredible week as he delighted the world of sport in his bid to win golf’s greatest prize at the age of 53.

After the extreme weather conditions in Lancashire, the Australian is hoping for some respite from the elements on the Ayrshire coast. Royal Troon, of course, was where he narrowly lost in a three way play-off in 1989 with winner Mark Calcavecchia and countryman Wayne Grady, after starting with six consecutive birdies en route to a 64 to take the Championship into extra holes.

Europe’s search for a first winner since Christy O’Connor at the turn of the Millennium will look towards Welshman Woosnam, winner of the 1991 Masters Tournament, who heads to Scotland as one of the favourites to land his first Senior Major.

The current European Seniors Tour Order of Merit leader has made a seamless transition into Seniors golf so far, winning the Parkridge Polish Seniors Championship in just his third appearance and quickly landing his second title in the Russian Seniors Open.

Having never won The Open Championship itself, Woosnam is eager to be the one standing in the winner’s enclosure on Sunday evening but admits Royal Troon’s notoriously difficult back nine will provide a tough test for him and the rest of the illustrious field.

“You have got to drive the ball well and I’ve been working on getting my driving into shape,” he said. “I may even resort to the trusty old one-iron. It would be fantastic to win the Order of Merit in my first season and winning at Troon would certainly give that a serious boost.”

Langer, winner of the Masters Tournament in 1985 and 1993, will also tee up at Royal Troon as one of those fancied to win his first Senior Championship, given the German’s fine form so far this season.

Lying just behind Woosnam on the Seniors Tour Order of Merit, Langer finished second behind American Jay Haas in the US Senior PGA Championship in May and is also competing at the top end of the US Champions Tour Money List.

Scotsman Lyle, also a Masters Tournament winner in 1988, has yet to show his true form since joining the Seniors Tour but The 1985 Open Champion’s links course experience means he is always likely to be a serious contender at Royal Troon.

South African Gary Player, whose record of three Senior Open Championship titles was equalled by Watson at Muirfield last year, will be another legendary name in the field.

Finally, with local interest provided by Ayrshire’s own Sam Torrance, the stage is set for the most fiercely contested and eagerly anticipated battle in Championship’s history.

**truebluefan** · 07-25-2008, 09:24 PM

Eduardo Romero’s affinity for The Senior Open Championship continued as the Argentine took a share of the lead with America’s Bruce Vaughan at Royal Troon after the pair left Greg Norman in their wake.

Romero, who has twice finished runner up in the Championship in 2004 and 2006 and who finished tied fourth last year, shot an opening round three under par 68, dropping just one shot on the sixth hole.

He joined Vaughan at the top of the leaderboard after the American shot eight birdies as well as a double and treble bogey in his incredible round.

Defending champion Tom Watson is just two strokes behind after a birdie on the 16th hole in a flawless round of 70 but pre-tournament favourite Norman could not carry his momentum from last week’s remarkable display at The Open Championship, finishing with a four over par75.

Romero came into the Championship in fine form having won the Dick’s Sporting Good Open in New York on the Champions Tour at the start of the month.
He produced a huge 205 yard nine iron tee shot on the 16h hole to set up his third birdie of the day and then declared it would be his week, following his previous near misses.

Romero said: “O'Meara is here, Langer is here, Woosnam is here, Greg Norman is here, and I think it's more difficult than last year and a couple years ago. But I'm in good form and I feel strong and I feel good and I feel happy. It's probably my week. I think it's my week.

“I love this tournament. You know, last year and the year before, I just missed by a couple of shots, and I love playing here. I've played for 30 years in Europe, and when I come here, it's like home. And especially this tournament, The Senior Open for me is a very special tournament. I will try my best to win this tournament, and I started very well today.”

Vaughan picked up shots on the second and fourth but fell back to level par with a double bogey seven on the fifth. He then moved to three under par with three birdies in five holes before losing the lead again with a triple bogey seven on the 12th ,before returning with birdies on the 13th, 16th and the last.

He said: “It was either feast or famine today. Outside of those two sevens, it was a good round. It’s just the first day though. We’ve got a few more days left.”
Vaughan hails from Kansas, the same State as Watson, and he admitted the three-time Senior Open champion was a hero back home.

Watson certainly played like he could create another piece of golfing history this weekend on the course where he won The Open Championship back in 1982.

The 58 year old said: “I didn't hit every fairway, but I hit every green today. How about that! I’ve never done that before. I hit 18 greens and I've putted for 18 birdies but I don't think I've ever hit 18 greens on the Tour ever in my life.”

Watson is two shots off the leaders alongside German Bernhard Langer on one under par, with fellow American’s Andy Bean, John Cook, Kirk Hanefield one shot off the pace on two under par, along with England’s Nick Job.

For Norman though the sedate sunshine on the Ayrshire coast might have been a world away from blustery Birkdale last week, but he appeared to suffer something of a hangover from his Open Championship fairytale.

The Australian, who rolled back the years to finish tied third behind Open Champion Padraig Harrington, looked understandably jaded from a dramatic past seven days as he opened with three bogeys in the first five holes and carded three more before steadying himself and picking up shots on the 13th and 18th holes. Scot Sandy Lye, playing in the same group as Norman and Watson, finished level with The Great White Shark after finishing with consecutive birdies for his four over par 75.

Meanwhile American Craig Stadler aced Royal Troon’s famous 123 yard Postage Stamp eighth hole and won 123 bottles of wine – one for each yard - from Hardys, the European Seniors Tour Official Wine Suppliers, after holing his pitching wedge tee shot in front of a packed gallery.

He said: “I just chipped a little pitching wedge and there she was. I was just hoping to stay out of the right bunker. It got a good first bounce and carried across the hill and hit the hole. It was nice to see it slow down. The wine is perfect as well. I’ll have a little Shiraz evening I think.”

Record Attendance

A record opening day attendance of 8,760 spectators watched the first round of The Senior Open Championship presented by MasterCard. The figure was boosted by the strongest field in the Championship’s 22 year history, including Greg Norman, as well as glorious sunshine at Royal Troon Golf Club. It was up by 3,600 from 2007, when 5,160 people watched the first round at Muirfield.

**truebluefan** · 07-25-2008, 09:24 PM

American Bruce Vaughan will enter unchartered territory after his level par 71 gave him the lead at the halfway mark of The Senior Open Championship presented by MasterCard – the first time he has topped a leaderboard going into the weekend.

The joint overnight leader is a shot clear of compatriot John Cook and two ahead of Bernhard Langer, Eduardo Romero and defending champion Tom Watson at Royal Troon Golf Club.

Vaughan, whose best career finish was second at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open in 2007, carded a bogey on the third hole but immediately recovered with a birdie on the fourth, before repeating the bogey-birdie sequence on the 15th and 16th holes.

The 51 year old needed ice treatment on his left knee – which he has had six operations on in the past two years – after feeling pain on the fourth tee, rekindling memories of Tiger Woods’ incredible injury hampered rounds at The US Open Championship.

Of course Padraig Harrington also overcame injury to win The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale last week and it was a case of “beware the injured golfer” once more as Vaughan played himself into contention to also win a Major Championship.

As well as his knee problems, Vaughan will have to contend with the new experience of leading a tournament at this stage for the first time, after finishing his second round with a three under par total.

Vaughan said: “I played okay not as good as yesterday, obviously, but I hit some decent shots. My knee was hurting a little bit out there to be honest. I had a work out this morning but I felt I stepped a little bit funny on the fourth tee and it was hurting after that.

“I have had six operations in the past two years and have had a partial knee put in three times. I did have two pieces of metal in there but now I only have the one with a lot of polyurethane sort of stuff.”

Vaughan said it was too early to think about the prospect of the biggest pay day of his career but insisted he was not surprised to find himself in contention.

“You look at my scores in the last half of the year and I have been playing pretty good. A lot of it has been the putting which has let me down.

“I have had some good finishes but I have had some problems with my knee so I haven’t really been playing that well until last year and so it is just good to be out here and competing with guys like who are in the field here.”

Cook also carded two birdies and two bogeys en route to his level par 71 to stay on two under par for the Championship.

He said: “Any time you're under par at a Major championship, you have to be pleased, and today was no exception. I played very well. I hit a lot of very, very solid shots.

“I've been paired with Bruce I think once in America and I've known him for years, not very well, but I've known Bruce. He's had to play as hard as he could everywhere. Nothing was really ever given to him, and he's battling, and it's great to see. He's a good story.”

If Vaughan can keep up his momentum it certainly could create more than one good story, as he could be paired with fellow Kansas player Tom Watson over the weekend after the three-time champion stayed at one under par with a level par 71.

Watson said: “He's a good player, Bruce, he's a very good player. I like his action. He's very solid, very, very solid. I'm not saying that lightly; I'm just saying that factually.

“I'm still right in the tournament. I had a very good break at the 11th to keep me in it when I hit the ball in the bush and took an unplayable.”

Argentine Romero, who had shared the lead with Vaughan overnight, had slipped back in the early windy conditions and carded a two over par round of 73 while former Ryder Cup Captain Langer finished with a level par 71.

“It was really difficult,” said Langer. “The wind was blowing and, hence, I was hitting three to four clubs more than the yardage. It was pretty tough going out, because everything was into the wind off the left.

“And then coming home, the holes play a lot shorter, but the problem is then you could't stop it. The course is quite firming up now with very little rain lately. And when the pin positions are at the front like 17 and 16 and a few others it's very hard to stop the ball and get it close to the hole.

“Generally I hit a couple of wayward shots today, two or three that cost me but otherwise the short game was pretty good.”

Greg Norman’s Open Championship hangover continued as he struggled again early on but The Great White Shark finished with an eagle on the 16th and a birdie on the last for a one over par round of 72 to play himself back into the Championship on five over par – eight shots off the lead.

European Seniors Tour Order of Merit leader Ian Woosnam finished with a two over par round of 73 to move to six over par for the Championship.

Attendance up again

The Senior Open Championship presented by MasterCard once again proved a huge attraction for the golfing public who streamed through the gates at Royal Troon for the second day’s play. Following Thursday’s record attendance of 8,760, a new record figure of 9,435 was set in the glorious sunshine of Friday, bringing the total attendance for the week so far to 18,195.