Tom Lehman displayed many of the qualities that have characterised past triumphs when he took command of the opening round of the MCB Tour Championship yesterday.
The 1996 British Open champion and Ryder Cup veteran kept his cool as the temperature soared to produce a near-faultless performance on the Constance Belle Mare Plage Legend course.
And while it may have provided thrilling entertainment for the spectators, it is likely to have been greeted with great consternation by the majority of his rivals.
At the end of his first day’s work, the man who won over $2m as leading money-earner on this year’s US Champions Tour held a three-stroke lead over the field after a seven-birdie 65.
“Any time you have a round with no bogeys, you have got to be pleased,” he said, “and I am very happy with my game today.”
It could hardly have started better for Lehman as he declared his intent with an opening pair of birdies and then picked up another at the downwind par-five fourth to head the leaderboard, a position he maintained throughout his round.
Birdie number four was not long in arriving, courtesy of an immaculate tee shot at the par-three seventh and the man from Minnesota, who used his driver only twice, added homeward birdies at the 11th, 14th and 18th.
But Lehman’s round was not quite as straightforward as the scores may suggest.
“My best putts were to save par,” he reflected after getting in trouble at the sixth, where a 12-foot putt prevented a blemish, and then holing from eight feet at the ninth, after overshooting the green with his approach.
South African David Frost, who scored his debut Tour win in the MCB Senior Open 12 months ago, is Lehman’s nearest rival following a four-under-par 68 that included a double-bogey.
“I hit one bad shot all day and that was my tee shot at the 12th that disappeared into a bush,” he said.
“After that, I holed from eight foot for birdie at 13 and from around 15 feet for another birdie at the 14th.
“Then I parred to the 18th, where I lipped the hole for an eagle.
“But I would have taken minus four at the start of the day.”
One stroke behind Frost is Sweden’s Peter Dahlberg, who made birdie at the closing hole for a three-under-par 69
First player to register a sub-par round was England’s Nick Job, who posted a two-under 70. And it could have been better.
“I had birdie chances at most holes going out,” he said, although he had to wait until the eighth for his first. Then he three-putted for bogey at the ninth.
Job birdied the 10th, had a chance of another at the 11th and birdied the 13th.
He dropped a shot at both the 14th and 16th, when he failed to make either green in regulation, but atoned at the 18th, striking a three-wood to three feet and sinking the putt for eagle.
The contest for the John Jacobs Trophy, awarded to the winner of the Senior Tour order-of-merit, is effectively over.
Barry Lane, who needed a win or second place to keep alive his hopes of overhauling Aussie Peter Fowler had one of those days he would prefer to forget.
He reached the sixth without mishap but then went bogey, bogey, double-bogey to turn on four-over.Four birdies and three bogeys on the back nine failed to repair the situation and Lane signed for a three-over 75, ten strokes behind leader Lehman.Playing partner Fowler didn’t have the greatest day but his was a little less traumatic than that of Lane.
One birdie, a bogey and a double-bogey on the outward half was improved when Fowler birdied the last for a 73.
Leading scores: 65 T Lehman (USA); 68 D Frost (RSA); 69 P Dahlberg (Swe); 70 N Job (Eng), A Sherborne (Eng), G Wolstenholme (Eng), C Mason (Eng), B Cameron (Eng), J Rivero (Sp), M Mouland (Wal), J P Sallat (Fr); 71 D Cambridge (Jam), D Johnson (USA), J Harrison (Eng), M Moreno (Sp); 72 D Hospital (Sp), T Thelen (USA), T Johnstone (Zim), C Rocca (It), R Drummond (Sco), A Sowa (Arg), J Bruner (USA), S Van Vuuren (RSA).
Neil Webber
