For 14 holes at Archerfield Links yesterday, Paul Broadhurst could do no wrong. For his last four holes he couldn't do anything right. "I suppose this is why we play this stupid game," he muttered through clenched teeth after slipping back into a share of the lead at the end of the second round of the Prostate Cancer UK Scottish Senior Open.
On his maiden appearance in the over-50s ranks, Broadhurst had romped away from the pack having covered his first 11 holes in a shimmering seven-under-par as he upped the ante in his bid to become the 10th player to win on his Senior Tour debut. Those golfing gods are never keen on this kind of serene, sublime progress, of course. From his 15th hole, the infuriatingly fickle nature of this game was perfectly illustrated as Broadhurst leaked a quartet of shots on the run in and ended up with a three-under 69 for a three-under 141 and a tie for top spot with the St Andrews-born Austrian, Gordon Manson.
Broadhurst's stumble over the finishing brought a host of players, including a number of Scots, right back into the thick of the title hunt. Indeed, the leading 11 players are covered by just two shots with one round to play.
Broadhurst had led on his own by three strokes at one stage of his majestic rise which was aided by seven birdies in nine holes but the former Ryder Cup player found lips of bunkers, got dodgy bounces, clattered branches of trees and generally endured more bad breaks than a very poor snooker player. "C'mon then, let's get this over with," he said with a wry smile as the ghoulish golf writers gathered for the post mortem.
"I had 14 good holes and then I thought 'oh god, everything is going to go wrong in four'," added the 50-year-old, who racked up a bogey six on the sixth - his 15th - a double-bogey six on the seventh and a bogey five on the ninth. "I didn't actually do much wrong but I got a lot of bad luck. It was tough to take but I just have to find the magic again for the final round."
For Manson, the annual golfing pilgrimage back to the land of his birth always rouses the senses. The championship may have moved from Manson's home town of St Andrews, its base for the past six years, but the hop over the Firth of Forth to East Lothian still gives him the necessary fix. "The special thing about playing here is that you can still see the Kingdom of Fife," said Manson, who carded a two-under 70 to hoist himself into a share of the lead. "I always feel at home here and it inspires me."
Manson, who took out Austrian citizenship a number of years ago, continues to feel at home on the Senior Tour, too. A breakthrough victory in the Swiss Open last month, which came hard on the heels of a second place finish in the PGA Seniors Championship near Newcastle, was confirmation of this contentment. "It was a major boost to get into the winner's circle as it's not easy," added the 55-year-old, who aided his clamber up the order with a haul of three birdies on his opening six holes. "It takes time to feel comfortable and gain the confidence and the win last month was the culmination of a four and half years of hard work on the Senior Tour."
Lurking just a shot off the lead is Surrey-based Scot, Bill Longmuir. Despite a trio of three-putts at the second, third and fourth, the 62-year-old, who won the Scottish Senior Open back in 2004, still managed to winkle out a two-under 70 for a two-under tally. "You know me and the putter, it doesn't always behave," he said. There was one major moment of co-operation, though, when he trundled in a 35-footer from off the putting surface on the fifth. "That was a real rarity and I was in shock," he added. "I just about had to plead with it to go in."
Peter Fowler, the Australian with two wins and a second on the European Senior Tour this year, made three birdies on his last five holes in a 68 to join Longmuir in a tie for third while Paisley's Stephen McAllister and former Ryder Cup player, Gordon Brand Jnr, bolstered Scottish numbers in the upper echelons as they both finished just two off the lead with 143s.
Plummeting past them, however, was overnight leader and course designer, David J Russell, who followed up his opening 70 with a calamitous 84 as he dropped 49 places with a 154. His fellow Midlander, Broadhurst, was right. It really is a stupid game.
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