SENIOR OPEN AT CARNOUSTIE

Ill-tempered Oldcorn lets himself down after bad finish

FROM THE SCOTSMAN WEBSITE
By MARTIN DEMPSTER
Tom Watson and Andrew Oldcorn both finished their opening rounds in the Senior Open championship at Carnoustie on a disappointing note. But, while one was able to mask his feelings to show a touch of class, the other let himself down.
Three-time winner Watson duffed his second at the last into the burn, running up a double-bogey 6 for a three-over 74, one fewer than Oldcorn, who signed off with a 7 after his approach finished a couple of feet out of bounds.
Playing in the group ahead of Watson, the Edinburgh man was furious with himself and told a press officer he wouldn't be discussing his round with reporters. "They should have more common sense after I have taken 7 at the last, I am not going to speak to anyone," he said, before storming off.
Oldcorn, who had gone into this event on a high after tying for eighth in the US Senior PGA Championship earlier in the year, probably had cause to be unhappy. So, too, did Watson, but his behaviour afterwards was in stark contrast.
"Hello, gentleman," said the American to the same press men on his way into the recorders' tent before emerging again to spend around five minutes reflecting on his round. "It was a struggling round and the last was an exclamation point," he conceded.
"I was trying to play a cute shot (with his second]. I tried to hit an open-bladed 5-iron just below the equator (of the ball]. I did that but, unfortunately, I got the turf first."
Watson's return to the course where he won the first of his five Open Championships in 1975 attracted a big crowd but it was Bernhard Langer who produced the best golf in a three-ball that also included South African David Frost.
"I was angry at myself today about the way I was playing and I'm sorry I didn't put on a show as I have a great respect for them (the Scottish galleries]," added Watson. "I'm out here to put on a show but I didn't do it worth a darn today. But there's always tomorrow."
While not nearly on the same scale as Watson, Fraser Mann also had his fair share of supporters out on the course, which is hardly surprising, given that he's Carnoustie born and bred and has been a member of one of the local clubs for more than 40 years.
Mann, a rookie on the senior circuit after leaving his club job at Musselburgh, though he's still attached there, used his local knowledge to good effect to sign for a respectable 72, a score matched by Ross Drummond after he birdied the last.
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