LONDON SENIOR MASTERS

JOHN CHILLAS LEADS WITH A 66
Aberdonian John Chillas will take a one-stroke lead into the second round of the Bendinat London Seniors Masters at The London Golf Club after grabbing the headlines from compatriot Sam Torrance, the defending champion.
Chillas birdied the last hole for a first-round, six-under-par 66 to top the leaderboard by one from big-hitting Jamaican, Delroy Cambridge, and by two from Guillermo Encina of Chile and England’s Kevin Spurgeon.
“I have been hard on myself recently, so today was really pleasing. My game has been up and down, but after a lot of hard work on the range it seems to be coming back to some sense of normality again.
“I played really well over the back nine and the birdie at the last, when I hit a four iron to 12 feet, capped a good day’s work,” commented Chillas, who is chasing his third title on the European Seniors Tour.
By contrast, Torrance registered a bogey 5 at the 18th hole after trying to cut the corner from the tee and only finding the lake, a mistake which dropped the former Ryder Cup Captain back into a share of ninth spot on two-under-par 70.
A cold putter left Torrance unable to capitalise on some fine approach play. His only successes on the greens came at the 16th, where he holed from 12ft for birdie, and at the last, where he sank a similar putt to prevent a double-bogey 6