Putt-putt Torrance hands the advantage to Woosnam

By SCOTT CROCKETT, European Seniors Tour Press Officer
Sam Torrance handed the early advantage in the race for the European Senior Tour Order of Merit to Ian Woosnam after the first round of the Casa Serena Open in the Czech Republic.
The Scot, currently in second place and third placed Woosnam are the two men primarily battling for the crown in the absence of leader Mark McNulty and Woosnam stole a march as his fellow Ryder Cup Captain struggled on the course some 70 miles south east of Prague.
Woosnam opened with a four under par 67 to lie only three shots adrift of leader, Australian Peter Senior, while Torrance struggled on the greens on his way to a two over par 73 and a share of 46th place.
“Putting was poor, game was poor, pretty much everything was poor today – I have to try and do a lot better tomorrow,” was Torrance’s summation of a round which saw him card five birdies in total.
“Sam did struggle a bit today which was unfortunate but I’m trying not to think about the Order of Merit at the moment to be honest,” said Woosnam, who trails Torrance by a matter of some €5000 with a first prize of €90,000 at stake on Sunday night. “I am trying to concentrate on playing better and if I do that, then everything else will take care of itself.
“I played well today but there is still a bit of inconsistency in my game. I played well in the second round at Woburn two weeks ago, shot 69 in the second round and then shot 79 in the final round so, at the moment, you are just never sure what you are going to get. But today was encouraging.”
Leader Senior began to make immediate amends for his Woburn heartache of a fortnight ago with his superb seven under par 64.
The Australian, who only turned 50 at the end of July, looked a certainty to claim his maiden Senior title when he took a four shot lead into the final round of the last event on the schedule – the Travis Perkins plc Senior Masters at Woburn – two weeks ago. But the four time European Tour champion saw his putter go cold in the final 18 holes to allow a charging Tony Johnstone to claim the spoils.
However Senior was quick to make amends at the Casa Serena course with a stunning opening effort which gave him a two shot lead over three players, Carl Mason, Domingo Hospital and Noel Ratcliffe.
“I actually felt I putted okay at Woburn, the ball just refused to drop for me,” said Senior, who had seven birdies in total in a flawless effort. “So it was nice to get a couple of putts in early in my round here which gets your confidence up on the greens and your momentum going.
“It is especially important to putt well on this course because if you can find the fairways here, it is one where there are a lot of short irons in for second shots. That means you’ll have plenty of birdie chances.
“But that’s the way it is nowadays. It is sometimes not always the guy who plays the best who wins, it is the guy who putts the best. However, I am really enjoying my time out here on the Senior Tour. It is a great atmosphere despite being competitive and I am looking forward to playing more tournaments.”
Leading the chasing pack was Englishman Mason whose flawless 66 represented his lowest round of the 2009 season and one which reignited his hopes of becoming the most successful Senior Tour player of all time.
Currently that record is held by Mason’s fellow Englishman Tommy Horton with 23 victories but Mason has 21 and admitted he now has the scent of history in his nostrils.
“It is harder to win out here now the older you get but it still would be something really nice to do and I feel it is within reach,” said Mason. “I’ve broken just about every Senior Tour record out here in my seven years on Tour so it would be nice to add that to the collection.”
Further down the leaderboard, Bernhard Langer looked like he would be the man to end the day in pole position when he birdied the first two holes on his way to reaching the turn in 31. But the double Masters champion could not quite repeat the fireworks on the inward half and he had to settle for a 67 alongside Woosnam.
“Four under on the front nine was good but then I ran into some problems on the inward half with a couple of loose shots and a couple of missed putts,” he said. “I really feel like I left some shots out there because even par coming home is not really good enough. It should have been at least a couple better.”