In the lead-up to the 43rd US Senior Open Championship, the talk among the best 50-and-over players was how SentryWorld was a “proper” USGA Open course. Translated, the daily-fee facility that has undergone two extensive renovations since opening 41 years ago has penal rough, tight, treelined fairways and slick greens.
A throwback Open, where par is a good score.
The leaderboard after round one reflected just that, as only four competitors managed red figures on a sun-splashed Thursday in central Wisconsin, where the scoring average on the 7,085-yard, par-71 Robert Trent Jones Jnr layout was 77.32.
“This course is kind of like what I used to play 30 years ago in US Opens,” said 2015 US Senior Open champion Jeff Maggert after an even-par 71. “It’s just fairways and greens. That’s all you’re trying to do. You’re not thinking about birdies. It’s… old-style US Open.”
One player who managed his way around the minefield in round one was Queensland’s Rod Pampling, 53, who overcame a double-bogey 6 on the par-4 sixth hole to post a three-under 68. He finished two strokes ahead of two-time US Open champion Retief Goosen, Miguel Angel Jimenez and University of Illinois men’s golf coach Mike Small.
Among the notables three strokes behind at even-par 71 are two-time US Open champion Ernie Els, Wisconsin native Jerry Kelly, 2010 US Senior Open champion Bernhard Langer and 2018 champion David Toms.
Steve Stricker, winner of the year’s first two senior majors, saw his streak of consecutive rounds at par or lower end at 55. The resident of Madison, Wisconsin, and 2019 champion suffered a pair of double-bogeys midway through his round and settled for a one-over 72. His poor drive left of the fairway on the par-5 10th was stymied against a tree, and he found the penalty area with his tee shot on the par-3 12th.
Pampling, a three-time PGA Tour winner, came into the championship with some momentum. He began June with a tie for fourth at the Principal Charity Classic and, last week, he shared 12th at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open. He registered seven birdies against two bogeys and a double-bogey.
“There were a lot of good things [in the round], but yes, the putting was really solid,” said Pampling, who owns a solo fourth (2021) and tie for 13th (2022) in his two previous US Senior Open starts. “It’s been good for a month or so. Not a surprise, but just to be able to actually see the lines as well as I did today was good.”
Tough conditions are nothing new for Goosen, especially considering his two US Open titles came at Southern Hills Country Club (2001) and Shinnecock Hills Golf Club (2004), where he one-putted 11 greens in Sunday’s final round to hold off Phil Mickelson. He got to three-under par before finding the rough on the par-4 sixth, statistically the third-toughest hole in round one, and again on the eighth to suffer bogeys.
Small, meanwhile, didn’t arrive at SentryWorld until Tuesday night after deciding to play in the Illinois Senior Open, where he successfully defended his title in a playoff over amateur Mark Small (no relation). The two-time PGA Professional of the Year used his Wednesday practice round with Stricker, his ex-college teammate at Illinois, to gain some insight into the golf course. Despite hitting just five of 14 fairways and 10 of 18 greens, he scrambled his way around the course. Starting on the 10th, he birdied the first three holes and added birdies on the 18th (with an approach shot to a foot), third and fifth. He ended his day with a double-bogey 6 on the 431-yard ninth hole, which played as the most difficult (4.880).
“This course is so hard,” said Small, who has guided the Illini to 13 of the last 14 Big Ten titles and a runner-up finish in the NCAA Championship (2013). “It’s difficult. I hit one fairway on the back nine today. Hit [five] fairways all day. To do that and score what I shot, I’m pretty thankful.”
Jimenez, the popular Spaniard who owns five top-10s in seven previous US Senior Open starts, including two runners-up (2016 and 2018), also got to three-under par by playing bogey-free golf for 13 holes, only to suffer a bogey on the par-5 14th and another on the par-4 17th when his approach found a penalty area.
Defending champion Padraig Harrington, coming off a win last weekend at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open in Endicott, New York, hit only half his fairways (7 of 14) and greens (9 of 18) en route to shooting a 74. Harrington is hoping to become the fourth player to win consecutive US Senior Opens since the championship began in 1980.
