Browne remains on top
TOLEDO, Ohio — Olin Browne likes old stuff. That’s a perfect attitude for someone playing on the over-50 tour.
On a course he didn’t know but has come to love, Browne followed a record-tying 64 with a solid 69 on Friday to take a one-shot lead over a talent-laden leaderboard in the rain-delayed second round of the U.S. Senior Open.
“I really like this old style,” he said of venerable Inverness Club.
Mark O’Meara, who shot a 68, was one of a number of major championship winners lurking close to Browne. He was one stroke back.
“Eight-under after two rounds around this golf course is good,” O’Meara said. “I’ve got my work cut out for me because there’s a lot of good players on that leaderboard.”
Browne, who led by two strokes after matching the tournament’s low first-round score, had a double-bogey and a bogey but added five birdies — including 3s on the two closing par 4s. He was at 9-under 133 at Inverness, which has hosted four U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships, a U.S. Amateur and the 2003 U.S. Senior Open.
Inverness, famous as the first club to officially welcome pros to compete at a U.S. Open in 1920, is growing on Browne.
“I hadn’t played here before,” he said after completing his second round under cloudy skies. “I wasn’t here for the PGAs and I wasn’t 50 in ‘03. It’s just a really cool layout. I love the way the holes are framed. I love how the greens are set up.”
No wonder he likes it so much: He’s been tearing it up.
Then again, he played a course softened by 4 inches of rain in the last week. The forecast calls for high heat and humidity the next two days, which could turn greens that have been balky into glass.
O’Meara, winner of the 1998 Masters and British Open, escaped a couple of shots that were offline to remain on Browne’s heels. He made a slight change in his swing on Tuesday after flying home from the Senior British Open the previous day.
“I’ve got to be committed to go ahead and make sure I’m aggressive through the ball,” he said, as if reminding himself. “Today when I did it right, I hit a lot of quality shots. But there were a couple of times I hit wayward ones.”
Mark Calcavecchia (67), Joey Sindelar (66) and Michael Allen (69) were at 135. Peter Senior (67) was three shots behind Browne, with Corey Pavin (69), Trevor Dodds (69) and Kiyoshi Murota (69) at 137.
