Ross Drummond sharing lead in Germany

EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS 
Scot Ross Drummond and South Africa’s Chris Williams both carded three under par opening rounds of 69 to share the lead after a blustery first day at the WINSTONGolf Senior Open.

The sublime Open Course at the golfing haven in the north of Germany was bathed in sun for much of the day but that belied the severity of the gusts which provided a huge challenge for the European Senior Tour stars on day one.
It was a tightly-packed leaderboard, however, making for an exciting weekend’s golf, and Drummond (pictured right by courtesy of Getty Images(c), and Williams were the ones who led the way, with defending champion Paul Wesselingh one of the five players a shot further back on two under.
Drummond, who played in the final group at last week’s Swiss Seniors Open before recording his best finish of the season - tied third – was delighted to continue his solid form and he is relishing the opportunity to challenge for a maiden Senior Tour title.
“I’m really happy with that round,” said the 58 year old. “It was really blustery out there with a lot of strong cross-winds so it was tricky. The putting was tough as well with the wind so all in all I just played steady, within myself.
“I made five birdies and most of them were with nice putts from around five to ten feet so I took my chances when they came, which is what you have to do out there on a day like this.
“When you take those chances you get momentum and you can get on a little bit of a run. If you’re not taking your chances or getting your birdies then there’s always a chance you can drop a couple of shots and you can never get back up again then.
“I think you definitely feed off confidence in golf, no doubt about it, and playing well last week gave me a good feeling about my game. It gives me that little skip in my step and I managed to keep that going into this week – sometimes it works like that and sometimes it doesn’t.
“I’ve been telling myself I need to get that victory for the last nine years. I haven’t won yet on the Senior Tour and I feel as if I’m certainly capable of it.
“This is why we play, to be in situations like this. I played well today but golf’s a fickle game. There’s no pattern and I’d certainly prefer to be going into the weekend playing well, but we’ll see what happens over the next couple of days, you never know.”
Williams, meanwhile, joined Drummond at the summit in the afternoon and having also performed well in Switzerland last week, he feels like he is returning to the kind of form which earned him his first and only title back in 2011.
“It was quite windy out there so I’m very happy,” said the England-born player. “My scoring has improved quite a lot lately, I’ve had four of my last five rounds under 70 so that’s a sign that I’m going in the right direction anyways.
“My putting has been a little better and that always helps but I’m just trying to make a score and working hard to make something happen out there.
“The putting was tough out there, later in the day the greens have grown a little and that makes you a little more nervous around those five footers.
“I just hope I can keep knocking the putts in because I’m hitting it nice enough right now. I may have to dig deep into the memory bank to remember how to get a win but it’s just nice to be at the top of the leaderboard and from there I’ll just see how it goes. I’d rather be there than ten shots behind so I’m very happy.”
Eight-time Senior Tour winner Wesselingh was joined in a share of third place by his English compatriots Bob Cameron and John Gould, as well as former Ryder Cup player Gordon Brand Jnr of Scotland and Spaniard Pedro Linhard, as they all carded two under par rounds of 70.


FIRST-ROUND SCORES
par 72
69 C Williams (RSA) , R Drummond (Sco) ,
70 P Wesselingh (Eng) , J Gould (Eng) , P Linhart (Esp) , G Brand Jnr (Sco) , B Cameron (Eng) ,
71 G Marks (Eng) , B Longmuir (Sco) , M Harwood (Aus) , D Smyth (Irl) ,
72 A Forsbrand (Swe) , J Harrison (Eng) , S Cipa (Eng) , L Zhang (Chn) , J Berendt (Arg) , S Luna (Esp) , P Fowler (Aus) , C Monasterio (Arg) , J Carriles (Esp) , G Turner (Nzl) , A Franco (Par) ,
73 M Martin (Esp) , B Lane (Eng) , G Manson (Aut) , G Bell (Eng) , P Golding (Eng) ,
74 P Walton (Irl) , D O'Sullivan (Irl) , C Rocca (Ita) , N Job (Eng) , M Davis (Eng) , R Sabarros (Fra) , B Conser (USA) , A Oldcorn (Sco) , G Rusnak (USA) , A Bossert (Sui) , M Bianco (Ita) , P Eales (Eng) , A Saddington (Sco) ,
75 F Lamare (Fra) , G Ryall (Eng) , J Rivero (Esp) , M Farry (Fra) , J Bruner (USA) , M Mackenzie (Eng) , S Brown (Eng) , J Quiros (Esp) , A Murray (Eng) , M Mouland (Wal) , T Thelen (USA) , G Emerson (Eng) ,
76 C Mason (Eng) , W Grant (Eng) , G Brand (Eng) , T Elliott (Aus) , M McLean (Eng) ,
77 D Russell (Eng) , G Wolstenholme (Eng) , P O'Malley (Aus) ,
78 M James (Eng) , J Ryström (Swe) , P Scott (Eng) , J Remesy (Fra) , S Tinning (Den) ,
79 K Tarling (Can) , N Ratcliffe (Aus) , P Mitchell (Eng) ,
80 A Sherborne (Eng) , N Hubbard (Eng) ,
81 T Price (Aus) ,
** L Carbonetti (Arg) ,