West Vancouver, B.C. (Golf Canada) – Vancouver’s Doug Roxburgh shot a 2-under 69 to take the opening-round lead Tuesday at the Canadian Men’s Senior Championship at Capilano Golf and Country Club.
“Overall, I think I played pretty good,” said the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame honoured member. “It’s a tough golf course – the pins were tricky and the greens firm. I made some good putts, par savers, to keep my momentum going.”
Roxburgh and his hot putter got off to a great start, eagling his first hole on the day – the par 5 10th hole – to get into red numbers early. He’d add two birdies and two bogeys to his scorecard en route to becoming the lone player to finish their opening-round under par. He would have been a shot better if not for missing a short par attempt on the 9th hole, his last of the day.
“Unfortunately I missed that short one for par on the last hole” he added. “Other than that, I was really happy with my score out there today.”
Roxburgh had reason to be content with his round. The scoring average for the field was nearly 10 shots above par (71) at 80.26 during the opening round. The 12th hole played as the most difficult hole of the day, with the 156 player field averaging the 362 yard par-4 nearly a full stroke over par (4.94).
Roxburgh, a four-time Canadian Amateur champion, had high praises for host Capilano on Tuesday.
“I think Capilano is my No. 1 course anywhere that I’ve played,” he explained. “I’ve played a lot of great events here over the years and it’s always great to come back”
Roxburgh may have been the only competitor to tame Capilano Tuesday, but he still has a great deal of work left if he wants to capture his first Canadian Men’s Senior Championship.
Three players trail the 62-year-old in second. Pat Thompson of Asheville, N.C., Steven Hudson of Birmingham, Ala., and Sandy Harper of Nanaimo, B.C. all fired matching even-par 71s to sit two-shots off the lead.
The Inter-Provincial team championship is conducted concurrently over the first two rounds of stroke play each year at the Canadian Men’s Senior Championship. Team British Columbia leads by five-strokes heading into the final round. Roxburgh, Lance Lundy of Pemberton, B.C., and Jim Shaw of Mission, B.C., combined to card a 3-over 145 to sit ahead of Team Saskatchewan’s Colin Coben (Delisle), Paul Grimes (Arcola) and Percy Murray (Delisle) at 150, +8. Team Ontario, which is comprised of Brampton’s Rick Dodds-Hebron, as well as Larry Cooper and Lars Melander of Oakville, are third at 9-over 151.
Mickey Batten of Chateauguay, Que. leads the Super Senior Division (70+) after a 6-over 77. Bob Masukawa of Aurora, Ont. is second at 7-over 78 and George Stokes of New Hamburg, Ont. rounds out the top 3 in third at 8-over 79.
The shot of the day went to Frank Morris of Guelph, Ont. who used a 4-hybrid to card an ace on the 201 yard par-3 16th hole. The Guelph Lakes Golf Club member opened with a 5-over 76 and sits tied for 30th.
Defending champion David Schultz of Calgary is tied for 9th after a 3-over 74.
This week’s champion earns an exemption into the 2014 U.S. Senior Amateur Championship at Big Canyon Country Club in Newport Beach, Calif. September 13-18, 2014.
The Canadian Senior Men’s Championship continues on Wednesday with the second round beginning at 7:30 a.m. (PDT) off the 1st and 10th tees. Scoring, pairings and start times can be found online here.