Andrade goes wrong way
Round of 72 leaves him 10 shots off pace
PEABODY — On a day made for going low, it was not to be for Billy Andrade, who spun his wheels to a 2-over par 72 that left him 10 shots behind leader
Kirk Triplett and in need of a solid second round to stick around for the weekend at Salem Country Club.
“I hit it in some places you’re going to have problems getting it up and down, which I did,” he said. “I didn’t make a whole lot of putts, and you know what, 72 is a score and I know I’m playing well enough that I can bounce back tomorrow and hopefully see some putts going in.”
The Bristol, R.I., product sits in a tie for 72nd place. The low 60 and ties after today will move on to the weekend.
Starting on the back nine, Andrade had three birdies and five bogeys on his card. Andrade struggled with the putter, needing 33 on his round and missed makeable birdies on his final two holes.
“They’re very difficult, I think. It’s hard to say because I played with two guys (Triplett and Duffy
Waldorf) who played flawless today, which happens. That’s golf,” Andrade said. “I was just off and when you’re just off on greens that are this undulating and this hard you’re going to have a lot of difficult putts.”
One is good number
Waldorf is part of the sixman logjam at 5-under par 65, and got a good final nine going with a hole-in-one at the downhill par-3 third with a pitching wedge from 136 yards.
“It was a really good number for me, a good, firm pitching wedge,” he said. “I was just trying to fly it right next to the hole and hopefully — I wasn’t trying to make a hole-inone. I wasn’t trying to play it past the hole and spin it back.”
Waldorf added a birdie on the short par-5 sixth and then buried a 35-footer up the hill at No. 8.
Early nerves
Chip Johnson of Hingham got the tournament started with the first group and finished with a 73.
There were some nerves taking the opening swing.
“They were OK,” he said. “Once I found my ball in the rough with a shot I said things are better.”
At the prodding of his wife/caddie Pam Kerrigan
Johnson, he admitted he is prone to hooking the ball when the nerves are present.
Johnson made the turn at 3-over with a bogey at No. 2 and a double at No. 8, and played the back side even with his lone birdie of the round at the par-3 12th and a bogey at No. 17. . . .
P.H. Horgan from Newport, R.I., shot an even par 70 with two birdies and two bogeys. Boston-born Mark
Brown, the head pro at Tam O’Shanter Country Club on Long Island, carded a 73.
Things did not go well for other New England entrants, including two-time champion Allen Doyle of Norwood and Ron Philo from Stowe, Vt., who each turned in 76s.
Stonehill College Hall of Famer George Zahringer, an accomplished amateur, had a day to forget with an 81, his worst round in nine appearances in the Senior Open.
Better to Open
Success has been hard to come by for Jerry Smith at the nation’s championship.
He never made the cut in four attempts at the U.S. Open — the first coming in 1988 at The Country Club in Brookline — and in his three previous showings at the U.S. Senior Open, the only time he managed to play through the weekend was a share of 66th place two years ago.
So being among the leaders following a 5-under par 65 is a pleasant surprise for the Iowan whose father, grandfather and great grandfather were all golf course superintendents.
Solid off the tee all day, Smith hit 15 greens and was in the fairway in regulation to put himself in position to make seven birdies during a calm morning that lent itself to low scores.
After a birdie-bogey-bogey start, Smith made the turn at 1-under and then fashioned a 31 coming in.
“Once I made the birdie at 6 and got it back to even par, then I just knew that I was driving the ball well, and I drove it that way all day,” he said.