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By Arthur Utley
HOT SPRINGS — Whenever the Virginia State Golf Association has conducted a senior or super senior tournament on either of the courses at The Omni Homestead Resort through the years, Jack Vardaman is one name you are likely to find in a prominent spot on the leaderboard.
At the conclusion of the first round of the 33rd VSGA Super Senior Stroke Play Championship on Tuesday, Vardaman resides at the top after posting par 72 on The Homestead’s Old Course.
Vardaman (The Homestead, Washington) has a one-stroke lead over the trio of Mike McDonald (Two Rivers CC, Williamsburg), Mike Brown (CC of Fairfax, Clifton) and Bill Nunnenkamp (Blue Hills GC, Blue Ridge), all of whom shot 1-over 73.
Trailing by two after returning 2-over 74 are Pat Gregory (Salisbury CC, Midlothian), Bert Allen (Boonsboro CC, Forest) and Mark Stephens (The Virginian, Bristol).
Barrett Cawood (Waterfront CC, Moneta), Rich Fischer (Army Navy CC, Fairfax), Mike Ancel (Newport News GC, Newport News) and Dayton Slater (Shenandoah Valley GC, Richmond) are three back at 75.
2016 Super Senior champion Charles Green III (The Virginian, Bristol) is among the four players who carded 5-over 77.
A breezy, sunny day coupled with a course softened by rain and rough that is long, thick and damp made scoring a chore.
“You’ve got to keep it in the fairway. The roughs are very tough. You have to try to hit it reasonably close – if you have a 30-foot or more putt it’s an adventure,” said McDonald, who logged two birdies and two bogeys on the front nine and bogeyed the par-5 15th coming in. “I think par’s a good score on pretty much all the holes. I think if somebody can shoot even par for the two days, they’re going to be in great shape.”
Vardaman, one of the most senior of the super seniors at the age of 78, got off to a quick start with a birdie on the par-5 first hole. He added birdies at Nos. 8 and 9 to make the turn at 3-under. A wayward tee shot on the par-3 11th left him a difficult recovery from behind the green, and he made double-bogey. A bogey at the par-3 16th took him out of red numbers.
“I gave it all back, but still got in ahead of the pack,” Vardaman said. “I was disappointed in the back side, but given the way the course was playing, 72’s not a bad score. You can get some very tough lies in the rough and I’m sure a lot of the guys had trouble with that.”
Vardaman was surprised the scores were so high, but “whenever you got off the fairway, it was hard to hit a decent shot. It was hard to get the distance right…it was hard to get the ball to go straight.”
Although he doesn’t play the Old Course as much as The Cascades when he’s in town, “over the years I’ve played a lot of golf on that course so I would guess I’ve played that course more often than anybody else in the field.”