Scott Dunlap shares Round 1 lead at Senior Open

LYTHAM, UNITED KINGDOM - Scott Dunlap, Paul Broadhurst and Wes Short, Jr. share The Senior Open Round 1 lead at 3-under 67 as play was suspended for the night due to darkness at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

The first round will resume Friday at 7:10 a.m. with 24 players needing to complete their rounds. Second-round tee times will begin at 6:40 a.m., as scheduled.

Dunlap, who had offseason surery on his left wrist and didn't play from December 2018 through April 2019, was bogey-free. Dunlap suffers the effects of Parsonage-Turner Syndrome, a peripheral nerve disorder that causes pain in the forearm. This is just his fourth start of the year.

Northern Ireland's Clarke finished the round with four birdies and two bogeys just a week after he missed the cut at the British Open, which he won in 2011.

"I played nicely," Clarke said. "I hit a couple of poor shots at the start of the round but after that I think I only missed one green. My ball-striking was pretty good today. I had the trajectory under control, you need to do that. Even with a little breeze here at Lytham, if you're off, you're going to find bunkers and get in trouble."

Scotland's Montgomerie shot a bogey-free round.

"There was a fair breeze blowing , 10 or 12 miles an hour makes a big difference in links golf when the fairways are so hard," said Montgomerie, a three-time senior major champion. "But it's a good golf course. We forgot how good this course was."

Two weeks after winning the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship for his first PGA TOUR Champions title, Retief Goosen of South Africa opened with a 70, as did American Tom Lehman who won The Open here in 1996.

Defending champion Miguel Angel Jimenez of Spain had three bogeys and two birdies for a 1-over 71.

In his 18th appearance in the event, Tom Watson (74) took a double-bogey at the par-5 7th.

Amputee golfer Geoffrey Nicholas of Australia, who qualified for the event, is at the bottom with 88.

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PGA TOUR Champions Communications notes:

Paul Broadhurst, 34-33 – 67 (-3)

• Broadhurst eagled the par-4 13th to go along with four birdies and three bogeys en route to a 3-under 67, his best first-round score of the season.
• Entering this week, Broadhurst had been a first-round leader/co-leader just twice on PGA TOUR Champions, and never at a major.
• When The Open was played at Lytham in 1996, Broadhurst opened with a 65 and led by two. He closed with rounds of 72-74-71 and finished T26.
• Winner of the 2016 Senior Open, Broadhurst is aiming to become the tournament’s eighth multiple winner.
• This season, two of his four top-10s came in majors (T6/Regions Tradition, 3rd/KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship) and entering this week, he had the fifth-best major scoring average among players that played all four majors (70.13). He is currently No. 15 in the Charles Schwab Cup.

Wes Short Jr., 35-32 – 67 (-3)

• Short was 4-under on the inward nine, with birdies on Nos. 10 and 16 and an eagle on No. 11, and posted a 67, which matched his lowest first-round score of the season (4-under 67 at the Chubb Classic).
• Entering this week, Short has been a first-round leader/co-leader four times on PGA TOUR Champions, including once in a major (2018 KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship).
• After finishing T7 in 2016, Short has missed the cut the last two years at The Senior Open.
• His lone victory on PGA TOUR Champions came in his rookie season (2014 Quebec Championship). He has advanced to the Charles Schwab Cup Championship each of his five seasons on Tour, and he finished a career-best 18th in last year’s final standings.
• Short’s only top-10 of the season was a T5 at the Rapiscan Systems Classic and his best result in the season’s first four majors was T24 at both the U.S. Senior Open and Bridgestone SENIOR PLAYERS Championship. He started the week No. 44 in the Charles Schwab Cup.

Scott Dunlap, 33-34 – 67 (-3)

• Dunlap turned in a 3-under 67, one of just two bogey-free rounds Thursday and his best score of the season.
• After having surgery on his left wrist in the off-season, Dunlap has suffered the effects of Parsonage-Turner Syndrome, a peripheral nerve disorder that causes pain in the forearm. He did not play golf from December 2018 through mid-April 2019, and this week is just his fourth start of the season.
• He made the cut in each of the last three majors and his best finish was T39 at the Bridgestone SENIOR PLAYERS Championship.
• His professional career includes wins on PGA TOUR Latinoamérica, Canadian Tour, Sunshine Tour and Korn Ferry Tour (formerly Web.com Tour). He won the Boeing Classic in 2014 and later that year he was named PGA TOUR Champions Rookie of the Year.
• He has top-20 finishes in four of his five starts at The Senior Open (best: T6/2014).

First-Round Lead Notes

• This season, a first-round leader/co-leader has won six out of 16 tournaments. At the four majors, Steve Stricker is the only player to convert a first-round lead/co-lead into a victory (U.S. Senior Open).
• Since 2003, the first-round leader/co-leader has gone on to win The Senior Open Championship seven of 16 times. Most recently, Bernhard Langer went on to win in 2017 after opening with a 2-under 69 (led by one).

Darren Clarke, 35-33 – 68 (-2)

• After a 1-over 35 on the outward nine, Clarke was 3-under coming in and is T6 at 2-under 68.
• When The Open was played at Royal Lytham & St. Annes in 2001, Clarke was T21 after a first-round 70. He closed with rounds of 69-69-70 and finished T3, four shots behind David Duval.
• Winner of The Open Championship in 2011, Clarke is looking to join Tom Watson, Gary Player and Bob Charles as the only players to win both The Open and The Senior Open.
• The last two senior majors have been won by players making his tournament debut (Steve Stricker/U.S. Senior Open, Retief Goosen/Bridgestone SENIOR PLAYERS Championship). Clarke would be The Senior Open’s eighth champion to win in his debut.
• This season, Clarke has three top-10s and is currently 29th in the Charles Schwab Cup.

Colin Montgomerie, 34-34 – 68 (-2)

• Montgomerie tallied one of two bogey-free rounds Thursday, as birdies on Nos. 11 and 15 produced a 2-under 68.
• When The Open was played at Royal Lytham & St. Annes in 2001, Montgomerie led by three after a first-round 65. He stayed one stroke ahead after a second-round 70, but shot 73-72 on the weekend and finished T13.
• He has two top-three finishes (3rd/2015, 2nd/2014) in six starts at The Senior Open. He has 13 top-10s in 32 starts in senior majors, including three victories.
• Montgomerie has six wins on PGA TOUR Champions, but none since the 2017 SAS Championship. A win this week would break a winless drought of 43 starts on PGA TOUR Champions. This season, he has five top-10s and is currently No. 19 in the Charles Schwab Cup.

Other Notes

• Scott Parel and Ken Duke are also tied for the lead at 3-under, but neither player finished his first round. Parel has one hole to play, while Duke has two left.
• Parel has top-10s in five of his last six starts and he’s coming off a T4 finish at the Bridgestone SENIOR PLAYERS Championship. He is one of nine players with multiple top-10s in majors this season and he’s currently No. 4 in the Charles Schwab Cup.
• Duke has one top-10 in his rookie season on Tour and entered the week 47th in the Charles Schwab Cup.
• Woody Austin was 4-under through 13 holes but was 2-over on his last five holes and finished at 2-under 68. He has top-20 finishes in all four majors this season (best: T7/Bridgestone SENIOR PLAYERS Championship) and is currently 12th in the Charles Schwab Cup.
• Magnus P. Atlevi tallied four back-nine birdies and posted a 2-under 68. The Swede tied for ninth at last week’s WINSTONgolf Senior Open in Germany and he has two top-10s (T6/2017, T3/2016) in three Senior Opens.
• Tom Gillis was the fifth player to record a 2-under 68 on Thursday. He has one top-10 this season and is 62nd in the Charles Schwab Cup.