Watson, Kite tied at Senior British
Turnberry, Scotland ? Tom Watson won his rematch with Jack Nicklaus at Turnberry links, but couldn’t shake Tom Kite.
Watson extended his string of low scoring in majors with a 4-under-par 66 Thursday, sharing the lead with Kite after the first round of the Senior British Open.
Twenty-six years after beating Nicklaus by one stroke at Turnberry in one of most dramatic finishes in the British Open, Watson squared off against the Golden Bear in the opening round.
Nicklaus, 10 years older than Watson and hampered by back trouble, shot an even-par 70 while Watson overcame wayward tee shots to finish with five birdies.
“I kept yanking it left, yanking it left. It was a very worrying start,” said Watson, whose 1977 victory was the second of five British Open titles.
“How do you shoot a 66 when you hit the ball like that? I made three fairways.”
Watson arrived at the $1.6 million championship — the newest major on the Champions Tour — in outstanding form. In the last month, Watson shot a 65 at the U.S. Open, 66 at the U.S. Senior Open, 64 at the Senior Players Championship and 69 at last week’s British Open.
Kite made up for a double bogey at No. 1 with two birdies on the front nine and birdies at Nos. 17 and 18 for a 66 and a share of the lead.
Fuzzy Zoeller, defending champion Noboru Sugai of Japan and Mark McCumber were in a group tied for third, one stroke back.
Jones leads Evian Masters: Rosie Jones shot a 4-under 68 and take a one-shot lead over Lorena Ochoa after the second round of the Evian Masters at Evian, France.
Overnight co-leader Juli Inkster (72) and Sophie Gustafson (67) were tied for third at 136.
Whaley shoots 75: Jay Haas and Peter Jacobsen shot 7-under 63s to share the first-round lead of the Greater Hartford Open at Cromwell, Conn., while Suzy Whaley birdied the final hole to cap a 75 that stole the show at the PGA event.
Whaley, a 36-year-old local teaching pro, became the first woman to qualify for a PGA tournament since Babe Zaharias in 1945. Trailed by a large media contingent, Whaley had the day’s biggest gallery and was wildly cheered at every hole.
Haas, who had a bogey-free round, birdied his first three holes. Jacobsen birdied the first two holes and finished with eight.
Dennis Paulson was one stroke back, while Craig Barlow had a 65. Kenny Perry, who has won three of his last five tournaments was in a group of six at 4-under. Two-time defending champ Phil Mickelson had a 67.
Bjorn bounces back: Just four days after his final-round collapse at the British Open, Thomas Bjorn set a course record with an 8-under 64 in the first round of the Irish Open at Portmarnock, Ireland.
Bjorn had a two-stroke lead with three holes to play Sunday at Royal St. George’s, but finished tied for second, one shot behind winner Ben Curtis.
Bjorn had nine birdies Thursday and had a two-stroke lead over Michael Campbell.
Mark Roe, who was disqualified after the third round of the British Open, had a 69.
Pressel tops Wie: Morgan Pressel, at 14 a year older than golf’s latest sensation, beat Michelle Wie 3 and 2 in the third round of the U.S. Girls’ Junior at Fairfield, Conn. Pressel won the first hole with a par and never trailed in advancing to today’s quarterfinals at Brooklawn Country Club.
Wie won the U.S. Women’s Public Links last month and was trying to become the first player to win both amateur tournaments.