Back to the Fairway: Ames and Andrade Tied for 1st in Senior Open

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OMAHA -- The U.S. Open, more than any other tournament in golf, was the one where players needed to hit the ball into the fairway if they wanted to win. Then along came Bryson DeChambeau and his bomb-and-gouge strategy. The idea was to drive the ball as far as possible, and if it ended up in the rough, at least the next shot would be shorter. It worked last year at Winged Foot, as he bludgeoned the course and the field on his way to a six-stroke victory. 

Things were different at this year's Open. DeChambeau faded on Sunday, and Jon Rahm ended up winning. Rahm bombed it off the tee, but he also hit more fairways than most of the field at Torry Pines, and he made two crucial putts on the last two holes. 

The 2021 U.S. Senior Open at Omaha Golf Club appears to be another example of the USGA reestablishing the importance of keeping the ball in the fairway.  

On Thursday, Stephen Ames and Billy Andrade both shot 5-under-par 65's to take the lead after the first round. Andrade did what very few players thought was possible going into the tournament -- he completed his round without making a bogey. 

Wes Short did the same thing, as he shot 66, which has him alone in third place.

Short gave much of the credit for his recent success -- he tied for third last week in the Dick's Sporting Goods Open -- to his new putting style. He switched from a regular grip to cross-handed two weeks ago. But the thing the the top three players on the leaderboard have in common is accuracy off the tee. Ames hit 11 of 13 fairways on Thursday. Andrade hit 10 of 13. Short, like Ames, his 11 of 13.  

Alex Cejka, the feel-good story of the year on the PGA Tour Champions, was a Monday qualifier when the season began. Since then, the 50-year-old senior rookie has won two major championships -- the Regions Tradition and the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship. He's two shots behind and tied for fourth with Robert Karlsson after a 67.

Another player who hit 11 fairways was Miguel Angel Jimenez, and he's tied for sixth, along with Fran Quinn at 68. 

In addition to hitting it straight, Andrade hit it a long way on Thursday, averaging 292.1 yards off the tee. That helped him birdie all three of the par-5's at Omaha CC. Starting on the back nine, he birdied the short, 305-yard, par-4 13th, the 556-yard, par-5 16th and the 402-yard, par-4 17th before making the turn. He added birdies on the two front-nine par-5's, No. 2 (558 yards) and No. 6 (543).

The 57-year-old Andrade has won three times on the senior circuit, but all three victories came in 2015. 

Ames, also 57, claimed his first Champions Tour victory in 2017, at the Mitsubishi Electric Classic,  and got his second a month ago at the Principal Charity Classic. His opening round had a little more variety -- nine pars, seven birdies and two bogeys. He birdied the sixth and the 437-yard, par-4 ninth to get to 2 under. On the back nine, he birdied the 10th (482 yards, par 4) and 11th (173, par 3), and then made consecutive birdies again at the 14th (380, par 4) and 15th (218, par 3), before giving one back at the 17th.

Tom Lehman, the two-time Champions Tour Player of the Year from Alexandria, made two birdies and two bogeys on the front nine. He then birdied the 11th and the 13th and was 2 under at that point. But the 62-year-old former University of Minnesota star bogeyed the 15th and the 422-yard, par-4 18th. So he finished the day tied for 16th at even-par 70, hitting 9 of 13 fairways in the process. 

The last man to claim a spot in the Open was Cameron Beckman, a Minnesota ex-patriate who played high school golf at Burnsville, then won an NAIA Championship while playing for Texas Lutheran in 1991, and now lives in San Antonio. Beckman, 51, wasn't in the field for Omaha as of last Saturday, but he won the Dick's Sporting Goods Open on Sunday, and that got him into the Open. On Thursday, he struggled to find the fairway (6 of 13), however, and he paid the price with a 75, which has him tied for 88th.  


PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS

U.S. Senior Open 

At Omaha Country Club

Par 70

First-round results 

T1. Stephen Ames                            65

T1. Billy Andrade                               65

3. Wes Short                                     66

T4. Alex Cejka                                  67

T4. Robert Karlsson                          67

T6. Fran Quinn                                  67

T6. Miguel Angel Jimenez                 67

T16. Tom Lehman                            70

T88. Cameron Beckman                  75