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Ally Fiddes ties for lead after 1st round of 40th Seniors Open Amateur Golf Championship

Posted by under Latest Golf News, Mens Amateur Golf, Seniors Amateur Golf

Deeside Golf Club’s Alistair Fiddes shared the lead after the first round of the 40th Seniors Open Amateur Championship at Royal Cinque Ports in Deal, pictured below.

Fiddes returned a one-under-par 71 to be the joint leader with Geoffrey King. The best score of the day up the Kent coast at Prince’s was also a 71, but for level par, from Graham Cooke, last year’s runner-up.

Fiddes, 56, is now a member at Deeside but spent 30 years playing at Murcar Links, when his job in the oil industry allowed. He used all his links experience to hit 16 greens in regulation and make three birdies. Both his bogeys, including at the last, were from three-putts on a day when the quick, yet subtle, Cinque Ports greens caught out many of the competitors.

King, 63 from West Essex, benefited from going off in the first group of the day and starting when it was calm. He went out in 32, four under par, but with the wind against on the fearsome finishing stretch from the 12th tee, he came back in 39. His round perfectly illustrated the problem of holding onto a good score at the two-time Open venue.

American Erik Myrmo was next best at Cinque Ports with a 72, followed by the 73s of Crewe’s Robert Walker and Adrian Murrow, the Irish and European Seniors Amateur champion.

Scoring was even tougher at Prince’s, however, with Cooke the only man to match par. The 61-year-old Canadian from Hudson, Quebec, was the runner-up to Arthur Pierse last year at Nairn. He led by a stroke at this venue from Chris Reynolds.

A member at another fine Kent links at Littlestone, Reynolds was fourth in last year’s championship and, in the last group of the day, came in long after the other leaders had finished. Sweden’s Borje Back and American Rick Woulfe were on 73 while Ireland’s Pierse opened the defence of his title with a 74.

Each competitor, all aged 55 or over, plays a second qualifying round at the other venue on Thursday before the lowest 60 scorers, and ties, contest the final round at Cinque Ports on Friday.