After the opening round of the Kansas Golf Association Senior Amateur Championship at Alvamar Country Club on Thursday, Andy Smith was the lone player with a red number on the leaderboard.

LAWRENCE'S DICK STUNTZ PUTTS FOR PAR during the first round of the KGA Senior Amateur Championship. The opening round of the two-day tournament was played Thursday at Alvamar Country Club.

LAWRENCE'S DOUG WILSON WATCHES HIS TEE SHOT during the first round of the KGA Senior Amateur Championship. The tourney teed off Thursday at Alvamar Country Club.

“It’s always good to be in the red,” said Smith after shooting a 71 on the par-72 course. “It’s never bad to be in the red. Never.”

Smith’s round of 1-under put the 2005 Senior Amateur champ at the front of the field with a four-stroke lead over Ron Eilers and five shots ahead of reigning champ Kevin Handlan, Lawrence native Stewart Platz, Bill Bleish and Curt Kitson.

“Andy has a pretty good lead and he’s a good player, so he’ll be hard to catch,” Kitson said. “Somebody will have to play good, and Andy will have to have a hiccup or two and get it close, then you’ll have a chance. That’s the only way. One of us will have to shoot even-par or somewhere around there and then need some help from Andy.”

Smith had established his game plan during his practice round Wednesday, having talked about iron play and precision on approach shots, saying those facets were important because the greens were “sneaky-fast.”

“I hit a lot of solid iron shots onto the green today,” Smith said. “I didn’t have to chip very much. I was just very patient with it and I didn’t take any unnecessary chances. I really focused on hitting just solid iron shots to the middle of the green.

“My practice round did not go nearly as well, so I was a little surprised today. But once I got rolling I felt very comfortable out there.”

While Smith was able to tame the greens, they were still causing fits for some golfers.

“I had a couple of three-putts and I just didn’t putt very well,” Kitson said. “At this golf course, the greens are tough, and I’m just not familiar with the course. Their greens are very severe here, with a lot of pull to them, and when you don’t know them, you’re kind of tentative on the greens.”

Due to the deceiving greens and some of the holes playing longer than marked, numerous ended up shooting in the upper 70s to mid 80s.

“I think it’s a matter of not making big mistakes,” said Smith, who was paired with Dave Harris (79), Bob Bezek (79) and Bill Quattlebaum (80). “I’m a little surprised with the scores that were shot, but this is the type of golf course that you’ll become very frustrated if you don’t score early. So you just kind of get out of whack and your comfort level on this golf course kind of goes away. If you’re hitting the ball a little bit off line, this golf course can be extremely difficult.”

The second and final round is scheduled for today with the first groups slated to tee off at 8:30 a.m. on the first and 10th holes. The final foursome of Smith, Eilers, Handlan and Platz will tee off from the first hole at approximately 10:20 a.m.

“Any time you can lead, it certainly presents you with opportunities to play a little differently – although I don’t think I will play much differently than I played today,” Smith said. “I’m going to try to follow the same game plan that I tried to find today.

“Otherwise, this golf course can catch up with you. It has a history of catching up on you very quickly. Four-stroke leads can disappear in a matter of a couple of swings, so I’m going to try to play exactly the same way that I played today and make them chase me a little bit, hopefully. I have no reason to believe that somebody won’t come chasing me, so I can’t be too conservative in my play.”