Argentina’s Cesar Monasterio and English pair Simon P Brown and Barry Lane share the lead after the first round of the Senior Italian Open Presented by Villaverde Resort at Golf Club Udine.
The trio carded rounds of 67 in Northern Italy with Lane returning to the clubhouse with the only unblemished card of the afternoon, The 1993 Ryder Cup star was bogey-free in tricky conditions.
Heavy rain over the past 48 hours led to the cancellation of Thursday’s Pro-Am, the 57-man field starting from two tees.
Lane made par on the first 11 holes, but then raced up the leaderboard as he made gains on four of the last seven.
The former Ryder Cup star has finished inside the top 22 in his last four tournaments and credited a recent trip to Japan for his good form at the penultimate event of the Senior Tour season.
“I played lovely out there,” said Lane. “I duffed a chip on the first hole but got it out for a par and that was a good start.
“After that I played fabulous. I was level par after nine. I wasn’t doing anything wrong. I really played lovely from tee to green and I think I putted well too.
“It is getting drier out there and the greens held up well too. I’ve started to play well over the last few weeks and played well in Japan last week too. I’ve been struggling a little bit with equipment this year but now I’ve got it sorted and I’m very happy. Now I can push on.”
Brown, a three-time European Senior Tour winner, made the turn in 33, three under par, and sat on four under par after a birdie on the 12th hole. A bogey on the 16th hole was cancelled out by an eight-foot birdie putt on the 18th for a round of 67.
“I played good and putted out nicely,” said Brown. “The conditions were really surprising compared to yesterday. It’s still very wet but a lot drier than yesterday.
“It’s nice to shoot a good first round. We’re near the end of the season and we’re all going out there to play as well as we can.”
Monasterio made a superb start as he birdied three of the first four holes and made a further gain on the 17th hole, making the turn four under par.
Another birdie on the first hole, his tenth, moved him to five under but a bogey on the seventh hole, his 16th, saw him join Brown and Lane on four under par.
Tied for fourth place are André Bossert, winner of last month’s Travis Perkins Masters at Woburn Golf Club, and Santiago Luna as the pair carded three under par rounds of 68.
Six golfers are tied for sixth place and a further six share 12th place on one under par.
Philip Price, one of the stars of Europe's 2002 Ryder Cup winning side, is making his Senior Tour debut this weekend after turning 50 on the first day of this week's competition. The Welshman finished level par.
