LONGMUIR ONE SHOT OFF THE LEAD
IN ENGLISH SENIORS OPEN

By Graeme Hamlett
Press Officer, European Seniors Tour
Anglo-Scot Bill Longmuir is one shot off the lead held by defending champion Carl Mason at The Midas English Seniors Open at St Mellion after shooting a two under par 70 over the testing Nicklaus Course, where preferred lies were in operation owing to heavy rain in Cornwall over the previous two days.
Longmuir, who had three birdies and a bogey in his round, said: “All in all I am quite happy with it. It’s never easy when this wind gets up. I hit a lot of better putts and I am getting better. I’m not quite finishing it off – but I’m getting better. The putter feels like it’s more in control.
“I three-putted the par five 16th, which was such a shame, as I pitched it two feet from the hole, with a nice high, soft five wood, and that was very demoralising. But I’m in the hunt and I’m happy to be there. There’s a long way to go.”
Aberdonian John Chillas, meanwhile, got off to a great start, with birdies at the first and third holes, to go out in 34. He dropped a shot at the par three 11th, but roared straight back with a birdie four at the tree-lined par five 12th, only for the 13th to frustrate with a bogey.
A three-putt on the 17th took the 56 year old Scot back to level par, the score he ended up signing for. Chillas said: “I’m delighted with 72 because, for me, it’s the most difficult course in the world. Okay, I’ve played courses in more difficult conditions, but here, there’s no let-up. Everything about it is hard. Off the tee it’s tight, there’s the swirling wind, it’s playing long after all the rain, there are tough greens – it’s relentless. You have to be able to hit every shot in the bag.
“I had more birdie chances on a couple of holes on the front nine I didn’t take, but three birdies and three bogeys was an even trade. I don’t think you’ll get ten to 12 under par winning this week.”
Dundee man Steve Martin, who was fifth at the Bad Ragaz PGA Seniors Open in Switzerland last week, shot a four over par 76, as did Mike Miller, while Martin Gray scored 73.
Spooky goings on almost put the hocus-pocus on Carl Mason’s bid to win a record-setting fourth English Open title, but he blew away the early cob-webs with a three under par round of 69.
The St Mellion guesthouse where he is staying nearby is reported to be haunted – and Mason awoke in the middle of the night to some ghostly antics which he thought was fellow lodge room-mate, Ireland’s Eamonn Darcy, moving about.
Mason said: “It was unbelievable. I was standing outside the lodge last night, and there’s a guy sitting out in one of the cottages. He said: ‘Are you Carl Mason?’ I said: ‘Yes.’ He said: ‘Are you staying there.’ I said: ‘Yes.’ ‘With the ghost,’ he said. I said: ‘What?’ as I don’t believe in anything like that.
“Then, in the middle of the night, I woke up in a cold sweat. Alright, the duvet was half off me, but I was in such a cold sweat. So I’m lying there in bed, I got the duvet back all over me, and then I heard a switch click in my bathroom. I thought, ‘It must be Eamonn’ but it wasn’t him. I promise you – I thought someone had flicked on the switch. The light didn’t come on, but it sent the shivers right through me. I wish the bloke had never said anything to me about it!
“I probably won’t sleep tonight. It’s weird, because I never wake up like that, and when the light switch went off, woah. I was shivering all over. I may move out yet!”

FIRST ROUND SCOREBOARD
Par 72
69 C Mason (Eng)
70 J Heggarty (Nir), David J Russell (Eng), Nick Job (Eng), M Poxon (Eng), A Mew (Tri), B Longmuir (Sco), J Bland (RSA)
71 D Merriman (Aus), B Larratt (Eng), S Owen (Nzl), G Ralph (Eng), J Rhodes (Eng)
72 B Smit (RSA), GJ Brand (Eng), J Chillas (Sco), P Dugeny (Fra), G Townhill (Eng), T Dill (USA), D Cambridge (Jam), B Hardwick (Can), B Malley (USA), I Mosey (Eng), D O’Sullivan (Irl), R Stelten (USA)
73 G Encina (Chi), T Rastall (Eng), A Fernandez (Chi), I Palmer (RSA), P Teravainen (USA), E Rodriguez (Esp), T Johnstone (Zim), J Bruner (USA), D Johnson (USA), M Gray (Sco)
74 J Mashego (RSA), K Tomori (Jpn), T Gale (Aus), B Cameron (Eng), D Creamer (Eng), B Heuchan (Can), T Gideon (Ger), B Lendzion (USA), G Levenson (RSA), M Foster (Eng)
75 E Darcy (Irl), J Lapsley (Nzl), J Benda (USA), M Bembridge (Eng)
76 M Miller (Sco), S Martin (Sco)
77 N Clarke (RSA), K Spurgeon (Eng)
78 R Mann (Eng), V Garcia (Esp), D Good (Aus)
79 H Arnott (Eng), P Barber (Eng), G Watine (Fra), B Lincoln (RSA), P Dawson (Eng)
80 R Carrasco (USA), T Horton (Eng), JP Sallat (Fra), M Ferguson (Aus)
81 J Hall (Eng)
82 G Wintz (USA), G Cali (Ita)
84 I Richardson (Eng)
88 T Allen (Eng)
89 T Charnley (Eng)



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