Past champion Paul Broadhurst was focusing on the positives of a “decent” opening day at The Senior Open Presented by Rolex despite admitting it was disappointing not to capitalise on a flying start at Royal Porthcawl.
The Englishman, who won the first of his two Senior Major titles at Carnoustie in 2016 before claiming the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship two years later, was four under through his opening seven holes in Wales.
But in wet and windy conditions, Broadhurst dropped three shots in a six-hole stretch from the ninth as he settled for a one-under 70 which left him four back of clubhouse leader Miguel Ángel Jiménez.
"Got off to a great start," he reflected. "2, 3, 4 are going to be the tough holes, and I played them great and made birdies on a couple of them.
"I was four-under after eight, so [to finish] one-under is a little bit disappointing.
"But I played great the front nine and then drove it great the back nine.
"I missed a couple of four-footers for bogeys on a few holes. On 18 I just lost it a little bit left into the rough and it settled.
"Made par on the last which is a bit of a gimmie hole at the moment. Guys are hitting seven, eight iron in this afternoon, but as I say, you can't win it today but you can lose it.
"You want to get off to a decent start, and I've done that."
Broadhurst, who won six times while on the DP World Tour, has finished no worse than a tie for 32nd in Europe’s only Senior Major Championship in six appearances since his victory on debut.
He finished in a tie for 15th when Royal Porthcawl last played host in 2017, the year Bernhard Langer won at the venue for a second time.
Back then, four under par proved the winning total and Broadhurst believes scoring will be tough again this week if conditions are similar to the first round.
“It's tough to predict,” he said. “It really depends on the weather. If the weather lies down, there's a score to be had.
“We saw that on the Saturday last year. I think I was four or five-under on the Saturday, but the other three days, you were just hanging on.
“It's that sort of course. If the wind drops, then the scoring will be decent. But as long as it stays up, the scoring will remain high.”
