Hiroyuki Fujita and Richard Green sailed through the first round to share the lead at the U.S. Senior Open with matching scores of 63 on Thursday at Newport Country Club in Newport, Rhode Island.
Fujita (Japan) and Green (Australia) were three shots clear of the field when they signed their scorecards at 7-under par midway through Thursday’s opening round.
Wind played havoc on multiple holes and picked up in the afternoon. Defending champion Bernhard Langer of Germany had three bogeys and three birdies to finish even par. Langer is competing less than five months removed from surgery to repair a torn Achilles tendon.
Fujita finished tied for 51st at the Senior PGA Championship in May. He credited good fortune Thursday and didn’t anticipate a score of 63 at the Senior Open when asked if he was feeling good about his game coming into the first round.
“Not at all. Today was lucky, and I struggle with shot every day, but today was lucky,” Fujita said.
Fujita birdied the par-5 first and was 4-under by the time he preached the No. 7 tee thanks to seven total shots on holes No. 4-6. He birdied five holes on the front for a 30 going out and added two more on the back nine without a bogey.
Green felt he was primed for a great round after getting comfortable in practice rounds.
“My strategy off the tee and strategy into the greens, you know, my putting ability at the moment is working very nicely,” he said. “So I’m kind of not surprised a little bit that I’ve had a good round.”
Green carded birdies on the first two holes and got rolling at No. 10 with three consecutive birdies. He birdied 18 to secure the tie with Fujita with a score of 31 on the back nine.
Last week’s winner at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open, Padraig Harrington (Ireland), along with Lee Westwood (England) and Americans Jeff Maggert and Bob Estes were all three back at 4-under and the nearest threats to the leaders when the morning wave wrapped.
“Wind got up a little bit at the end, but even then it wasn’t hampering us. I think we got the best of the day for sure,” Harrington said. “It was very, very good morning for scoring. I know myself, I had a very poor ball striking day. Really, really poor ball striking day and had a very good scoring day. I don’t think I can get away with my ball striking for the next three days if it’s like that, but hope my scoring stays the same.”
–Field Level Media
