Ronan Rafferty led a scoring frenzy by the European Senior’s Tour elite group in the first round of the Prostate Cancer UK Scottish Senior Open at Archerfield Links.
The Northern Irishman, a Ryder Cup player in 1989 and a former European Tour Order of Merit winner, went out in just 29 strokes playing the back nine first of the Fidra Links which hosted the Paul Lawrie Matchplay event just two weeks ago, but his 63 was only good for a one shot lead on another former Ryder Cup hero, Ireland’s Philip Walton.
The 52-year-old, who plays on the PGA Scotland circuit as well as the Seniors, had visions of a 59 but a dropped shot at the fifth offset a birdie at the first and an eagle on the 6th meaning – his second of the day after one at the 16th – he had to settle for nine-under.
“I had a purple patch all of a sudden from the 14th hole to the first hole and hit some nice shots,” he said. “We know from Paul’s event a few weeks ago that 16 is a tough green. I’ve always played it before as a bump and run, so I did that and it just went in, about 140 yards into the breeze.
“After that run, I thought to myself ‘wow, what happened in that last hour and a half?’. If I had got to double figures (under par), I might have been panicking a bit,” he said. “I’m playing with a friend of mine and we chatted like we would have in a fourball, so it took the pressure off me a bit, and it was nice that my mind was taken off things by helping him.”
Walton, The man who secured the winning point for Europe at Oak Hill in 1995, had a perfectly symmetrical 64 of four under on both halves.
“I’ve been playing in and out this season, to be honest,” he said. “Some days have been very good and other days mediocre. I had a 64 in Switzerland and then shot a 68 in Germany on the second day. I’m shooting scores, but need to put it all together over a week.”
Australia’ Peter Fowler is in third on six-under with a group of four one shot behind him including former Scottish bvSenior champions in Barry Lane (winner in 2010 and 2011 at Fairmont in St Andrews) and 2013 winnwr Santiago Luna.
Best placed Scot is Andrew Oldcorn on four under par alongside defending champion,and recent Senior Open Championship winner Paul Broadhurst as well as 1991 Masters champion Ian Woosnam, fresh from his excellent US Senior Open performance.
Selected first round scores:
63 R Rafferty (Nir) ,
64 P Walton (Irl) ,
66 P Fowler (Aus) ,
67 M Harwood (Aus) , M James (Eng) , B Lane (Eng) , S Luna (Esp) ,
68 A Oldcorn (Sco) , P Eales (Eng) , P Broadhurst (Eng) , I Woosnam (Wal) , D Smyth (Irl) ,
69 S Dodd (Wal) , G Wolstenholme (Eng) , G Marks (Eng) , P Wesselingh (Eng) , A Bossert (Sui) , P Linhart (Esp)
70 P Golding (Eng) , J Kingston (RSA) , K Tarling (Can) , S Brown (Eng) ,
71 B McGovern (Irl) , M Farry (Fra) , M Mouland (Wal) , M Atlevi (Swe) , B Longmuir (Sco) , S Tinning (Den) , T Thelen (USA) , M Martin (Esp) , G Brand Jnr (Sco) ,
