Andrew Oldcorn battled the elements to card a one over par 73 for a share of the clubhouse lead in the Van Lanschot Senior Open in The Netherlands.
The Scot began brightly at Royal Haagsche Golf & Country Club, opening with a birdie on the first hole and picking up another shot on the seventh hole.
However in blustery conditions in The Hague he dropped three shots on the back nine and had to settle for a share of the lead with English pair John Gould and Jeff Hall, Spaniard Domingo Hospital and and Australian Terry Price.
Oldcorn, who finished runner up to George Ryall in the inaugural Van Lanschot Senior Open two years ago, was left to rue those mistakes on the back nine but remained satisfied with his opening round.
“It’s difficult to assess how I feel about that round really because I played so well the front nine and then got on the tenth in two but as we were walking up it rolled off the green,” he said.
“I then duffed a chip and made a six. I lost a bit of momentum then and started trying to guide my tee shots a bit because of the wind. It was a tough day.
“I think if you break 70 here today you have played out of your skin. Having ground out a front nine it was disappointing to do what I did on the tenth. That threw me a bit and I hit a couple of poor drives on the back nine which were straight off bogeys. I was lucky to even make bogey and I just ground it in. I didn’t play great, I didn’t play awful. It was just a tough day so I’m quite pleased.
“I probably would have taken one over from the start.”
Gould had been setting the pace and looked like being the only player to break par after birdieing the 13thhole to go to two under par. However he finished with three consecutive bogeys to drop back and he also settled for a one over par 73.
“I’ve been playing quite well all year and this was another good round,” he said. “We had a big downpour at the end and I just lost a bit of concentration. I played well though.
“The wind was tough. You had to hit a lot of low driving shots and it was like links golf out there. I’m not that used to links as I’ve played mostly in Europe for 25 years but I really enjoyed the challenge.
“I just made a few silly bogeys there at the end. It was frustrating three putting the last but I think anything around level par here today is a good score.”
