New Driver Helps Stansberry Manufacture 68, Lead State Senior Open

EDINA --  Life at the top of the food chain in professional tournament golf looks pretty darned good. Playing golf for a living, shooting really low scores on a regular basis, signing autographs, cashing big checks and doing commercials with Natalie Gulbis.  Who wouldn't want that?  

Joe Stansberry, the former Minnesota State Amateur and State Open champ who turned pro at age 50, has experienced some of the lower levels of that food chain, and it's not quite as much fun down there. Part of the frustration is trying to find tournaments to play in, especially when you're playing well. That's been Stansberry's main problem this spring.

A member of the European Senior Tour, Stansberry has only partial status. He could have played in an event over there last week, but he wouldn't have been able to get into the following tournament, which is this week, and then there's a gap in the schedule. 

"I thought about playing last week," he said. "But it would have been for one tournament only, and it would have cost $2,500. So I decided to pass." 

Instead, he's playing closer to home (he went to Bloomington Jefferson High School) this week, in the Minnesota State Senior Open at Edina Country Club, and after Monday's opening round, he has a one-stroke lead, thanks to a 4-under-par 68. John Robinson, a Florida pro with connections at Chaska Town Course, is in second place after posting a 69.

The tournament favorite, Don Berry, the 14-time Minnesota PGA Player of the Year who just reached the minimum senior age of 50 in February, is in third with a 71, and Gary Johnson, the former MGA Players (State Match Play) champion, is four behind at even-par 72 going into Tuesday's final round.  

Edina CC, with its firm, fast greens, was quite the test on Monday, as was evident from the fact that only 27 players in a field of 112 broke 80. But it didn't seem all that difficult to the 56-year-old Stansberry. 

"I've been playing really well," he said. "It's just that there hasn't been anything for me to play in." 

The State Senior Open was his chance, and he made the most of it on Day 1. He hit 16 greens in regulation and was on, or very close to, the greens on all four par-5's in two shots.

"When you do that, you should shoot 68," Stansberry reasoned. "Actually, I should have been lower today. I had a lot of chances for birdies that I didn't make."

One reason for his abundance of birdie -- and a couple of eagle -- opportunities was his new Callaway RAZR Fit driver. 

"It's got the same shaft that Tiger Woods has in his driver," Stansberry noted. "You know me. I'm not that much on the technical stuff. But this thing really works. I'd say I'm hitting it 15 yards farther than I was hitting my old driver. It's almost like cheating."

Starting on the back nine, Stansberry used the extra pop in his new weapon of choice to reach the 540-yard, par-5 10th in two and birdied it. He then made the first of his two bogeys at the par-3 11th, and responded to the lost stroke with another birdie on another par-5, the 515-yard 12th.

The 13th is another par-5 (495 yards), but the part of the green where the pin was placed on Monday -- 45 feet deep and extremely firm -- was inaccessable to anything other than a wedge shot. "I hit a 5-iron (second shot) into the front bunker, because what else could you do there?" Stansberry said. "So I gave myself a good chance for a birdie, but I didn't get it up and down."

His only other bogey came at the par-4 15th, where he hit a 60-degree wedge over the green from 80 yards. The next seven holes he parred, and then he went to work, playing the last five holes of his round in 16 strokes.

After a par at the short (120 yards) fourth, he birdied the fifth and the sixth, both par-4's, and he made another 3 at the seventh, a 207-yard par-3 that struck most of the players in the field on Monday as cruel and unusual punishment.

The seventh would be tough enough under any circumstances. But there were usually two -- and sometimes three -- groups waiting on the tee all afternoon. That meant sitting around for 10, 15 or 20 minutes, a wait that players in their 50's and 60's hate. Old bodies need to stay in motion, or they tend to get stiff in a hurry. Those conditions, plus a 190-yard carry over water, were a nerve-fraying combination, and in Gary Johnson's case, they probably cost him a sub-par score.

Johnson was cruising through 15 holes when his round came to halt on the bench at No. 7, and when his turn to play again finally came, he hit his tee shot into the water. The result was a double bogey.

Berry, who has won 19 Minnesota Golf Majors playing against the Under-50 set, hit what he thought was one of his best shots of the day at No. 7, despite the long wait. That didn't work, either. His 4-iron shot landed within 5 feet of the pin, but took a kangaroo hop and ended up 10 yards behind the green. From there, he made a bogey.

All of which should help to explain why Stansberry's 3 at the seventh was almost the equivalent of a birdie, and he made two more birdies on the way in. At No. 8 (522 yards, par 5), he smacked a 320-yard drive and then hit a 6-iron onto the green for a two-putt 4, and he got his sixth birdie of the day at the short (310-yard) ninth.        

Minnesota Senior Open

At Edina Country Club

Par 72, 6,650 yards

First-round results (for complete results and hole-by-hole scoring, go to the Minnesota Section PGA website: http://mnpga.bluegolf.com) 

1. Joe Stansberry, European Senior Tour    68

2. John Robinson, Chaska Town Course    69

3. Don Berry, Edinburgh USA                         71

4. Gary Johnson, Island View                          72

5. Mark Peterson, Brackett's Crossing           73

T6. Pat Vincelli, Brackett's Crossing               75

T6. David Rehfeldt, StoneRidge                     75

T8. Jon Empanger, Island View                     76

T8. Brad Schmierer, Hastings                        76

T8. John Harris, Edina                                     76

T8. Mike Barge, Hazeltine National              76

T8. Dale Jones, Mendakota                            76