Scotland’s John Chillas carded a fine four under par 68 to claim a two shot lead after the first round of the Irvine Whitlock Seniors Masters at a wind-strewn La Moye Golf Club in Jersey.
The former club professional from Glenbervie goes into the second round a couple of shots ahead of Spain’s Manuel Pinero and Englishmen, Tony Allen and Bob Cameron, and three in front of an international group comprising John Benda, Denis Durnian, Bertus Smit, Kevin Spurgeon and Alan Tapie.
However, it was not such a good day for tournament favourite, Sam Torrance, who struggled on the greens and could do no better than a one over par 73.
Chillas looked to be heading nowhere when he played his first nine holes in one over par 37 but he stormed home in five under par 31 to claim the outright lead.
The Scot started his purple patch when he hit a seven iron onto the green at the 160 yard par three first hole (his tenth) and then also birdied the second and the fifth before wrapping things up with an eagle on the par five sixth where he hit the green in two and then holed out from 35 feet for a three.
That’s when I knew it was going to be my day,” said the Scot. “The putt was travelling fast but it hit the back, jumped up in the air and then dropped into the hole.”
“I played very nicely,” he added. “Anything around level par would have been a good score in this wind.”
For a while it looked as if the Chillas might have to share first place with Pinero and Tapie but the Spanish former Ryder Cup star three-putted the last two greens to drop into a share of second place while Tapie lost a ball on his penultimate hole and then compounded the error by taking five at his last hole.
Defending champion, Torrance, came to La Moye having notched successive victories at the Sharp Italian Seniors Open and the AIB Irish Seniors but encountered problems on the greens for most of his round.
My putting was awful,” admitted the former Ryder Cup captain. “I hit the ball quite solid but just couldn’t get it into the hole. The only good news is that I’m by no means out of it yet.”
The highlight of the Scot’s round came at the 478 yard par 5 sixth where he hit a driver and a wedge onto the green and then holed out for an eagle from just under ten feet.
“That was one of the few that went into the hole,” he said. “My long putter has helped me a lot over the years but there is no doubt that it’s more difficult to use in windy conditions. There was one stage in the round when I seemed to miss everything I stood up to but with a bit of luck that might change tomorrow.
“Certainly, I’d love to complete the hat-trick and go to Wales (The FIRSTPLUS Wales Seniors Open) trying to make it four in-a-row but there’s a long way left to go.”
Another competitor who fared rather worse than he had hoped was England’s D.J. who finished second behind Torrance twelve months ago.
Russell went to three under par after a birdie at the 477 yard par five 16th but then dropped two shots on the 17th and another at the 18th to fall back into the group on level par 72.
“I suppose when I sit down tonight I might think that level par is not bad in these sort of conditions but it doesn’t feel like that at the moment,” he said. “I got myself into a great position but let it slip from my grasp. That’s pretty hard to take.”
Title sponsor, Geoff Irvine, Chief Executive of Irvine Whitlock, has a great chance to win the concurrent pro-am event. After the first two rounds of that event, having partnered professionals Guillermo Encina and Russell, he stands at 13 under par, tied with Mel Bosher just three shots behind the leader, Barbados resident, John Harvey.
