SENIOR OPEN AT CARNOUSTIE

Langer, Mason, Blake share first-round lead on 67 (-4)

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Germany's Bernhard Langer, England's Carl Mason and American Jay Don Blake share the lead after the first day of The Senior Open Championship presented by MasterCard at Carnoustie.
Mason, who is looking to win what would be a 24th Senior Tour title, shot a four under par 67 late in the day to join Langer - who is chasing his first Senior Major after a string of near misses - and Blake at the top of the leaderboard.
"If this was the 24th, that would be something special, wouldn't it?" said Mason when asked about the possibility of breaking Tommy Horton's Senior Tour record with a first Major.
"There's a long way to go, and so if I can keep playing as good as I have done today."
"I was thrilled to bits the way I played, I played great.
"It’s the best I've played for a good few weeks, so that was good. I felt good, and I started rolling in the putts and hit some great shots and four sort of birdies in a row really got me moving.
Mason came close to winning The Senior Open in 2005 when he lost in a play-off to Tom Watson and similarly Langer has also come close to a maiden Senior Major triumph.
Langer, pictured above, has dominated the Champions Tour in the US in recent years - highlighted by consecutive Order of Merit titles in 2008 and 2009 - but is yet to add a Major victory in the over-50s category to the two Masters Tournaments he won.
His hopes of capturing a first Senior Major in 13 attempts - he has had seven top ten finishes - were boosted by a birdie at the first and then a hat-trick from the seventh to turn in a four under par 32.
And despite a level par 35 on the way in, Langer was still delighted with his day's work.
"I'm very happy with it, said the former Ryder Cup Captain. "I birdied the very first hole and had some further chances the next few holes, then had a nice run there on seven, eight, nine when I birdied those three - there's a lot of tough holes on the back nine.
"I had some good approach putts from off the green when I missed a couple of greens here or there. I was able to get my approach putts pretty close and save par - it's a very tough finish. Those last few holes are all straight into the wind, and they are playing very long.
"I played very well. I kept the ball in play, I drove it pretty good and hit a number of fairways.
"When I didn't hit the fairway, I was either fortunate enough to get a reasonable lie or miss some trouble and hit those shots out of the rough pretty good. Made a few putts and hit my irons fairly close."
In contrast to Langer, Blake did most of his good work on the back nine.
Having turned in 35, the 51 year old recorded three birdies in four holes from the tenth.
"You know, I hit a lot of good shots," said Blake, whose only US PGA Tour victory came 19 years ago.
"Mike Reid, my playing partner says, ‘I never really did anything spectacular'. I hit a lot of fairways and played smart shots to the greens and made some putts here and there.
"I just tried to execute myself around the golf course and be patient. It's a golf course that you can't be aggressive because everything runs up to the pin so much that you can't fly it to the flags like we are used to over in the courses we play in America.
"I've had to learn a whole new game, which is fun - it's exciting, but it's tough. I've just tried to stay out of those death bunkers that I call them - it's a one-shot penalty just getting in those. It's pretty tough, tough track out there, and I'm very pleased with what I shot."
Those one shot further back include 2008 winner Bruce Vaughan, who was joined on three under by American compatriots Mark Wiebe and Dan Forsman. Former Ryder Cup Captain Sam Torrance, the 2009 Senior Tour Order of Merit winner, is two shots off the pace after a 69, along with the current US Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin.
FIRST-ROUND SCOREBOARD
Par 71
67 Bernhard Langer (Ger), Carl Mason (Eng), Jay Don Blake
68 Bruce Vaughan, Dan Forsman, Mark Wiebe
69 Sam Torrance (Sco), John Cook, Jeff Sluman, Corey Pavin, Mike Donald, Larry Mize
70 Gary Hallberg, Russ Cochran, Mark Calcavecchia, David Peoples, Olin Browne, Jay Haas
71 Randy Haag, Jimmy Heggarty (NIrl), Tom Lehman, Peter Senior (Aus), David Frost (Rsa), Morris Hatalsky, James D Mason, Loren Roberts
72 Ian Woosnam (Wal), Ross Drummond (Sco), John Gould (Eng), John Harrison (Eng), Fraser Mann (Sco), Ronnie Black
73 Marc Farry (Fra), Andy Stubbs (Eng), Gene Jones, Mike Goodes, Gordon J Brand (Eng), Michael Allen, Denis O'Sullivan (Irl), Chris Williams (Rsa), Graham Banister, Angel Franco (Par), Gordon Brand Jnr (Sco), Steve Van Vuuren (Rsa)
74 John Benda, Seiki Okuda (Jpn), Trevor Dodds (Na), Tommy Armour III, Mike Cunning, Chip Beck, Domingo Hospital (Spa), Stephen Bennett (Eng), Eduardo Romero (Arg), Tsukasa Watanabe (Jpn), Steve Cipa (Eng), David Merriman (Aus), Craig Stadler, Tom Watson, Mark James (Eng), Des Smyth (Irl)
75 Roger Chapman (Eng), Bill Longmuir (Sco), Mike Clayton (Aus), George Ryall (Eng), Andrew Oldcorn (Sco), Ted Schulz, Bob Cameron (Eng), Glenn Ralph (Eng), Peter Fowler (Aus), Mark Carnevale, Sandy Lyle (Sco), Manuel Pinero (Spa), Lance Ten Broeck, Martin Poxon (Eng), Vicente Fernandez (Arg), Fred Funk, Boonchu Ruangkit (Tha), Peter Mitchell (Eng), Philip Blackmar, David J Russell (Eng), Mark Belsham (Eng), Alastair Webster (Sco), Tim Simpson, Barry Lane (Eng)
76 Frankie Minoza (Phi), Denis Watson (Zim), Juan Quiros (Spa), Matt Briggs (Gbr), Eamonn Darcy (Irl), Jerry Bruner, Paul Simson, J.L. Lewis, Bob Gilder, Costantino Rocca (Ita), Bob Boyd, Pete Oakley, C.s. Lu (Tpe), Isao Aoki (Jpn), Mike Harwood (Aus), Kazuhiro Takami (Jpn), Bobby Lincoln (Rsa), Bobby Clampett, Noel Ratcliffe (Aus), Nick Job (Eng), Fred Holton (Gbr)
77 Joe Stansberry, Mark Balen, Tony Johnstone (Zim), Hideki Kase (Jpn), Robert Vallis (Bm), Wayne Grady (Aus), Bertus Smit (Rsa), Katsuyoshi Tomori (Jpn), Adan Sowa (Arg), Nobuo Serizawa (Jpn), Michael s Harmon
78 Denis Durnian (Gbr), Robert Wrenn, Scott Simpson, Jeb Stuart
79 Martin Gray (Eng), Andrew Reynolds (Eng), Michael Mercier, Delroy Cambridge (Jm), Jose Rivero (Spa), Carlo Alberto Acutis (Ita)
80 Antonio Garrido (Spa), Kirk Hanefeld, Christy O'Connor Jnr (Irl), David Gilchrist (Sco), Barrie Stevens (Eng), Steve Rogers, Gary Trivisonno, Bob Charles (Nzl), Jim Rhodes (Eng)
81 Tom Lockwood (Eng)
82 Kevin Spurgeon (Eng), John Chillas (Gbr), Mike Reid
83 Graham Gunn (Can), Billy Jack, John Hoskison (Eng)
84 Grant Turner (Eng)
87 Brad Smith (Eng)