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By Chris Lang
WILLIAMSBURG — A back-to-back champion has never been crowned in the 12-year history of the Senior Open of Virginia.
After posting a 5-under-par 67 on a sweltering Thursday at Two Rivers Country Club, Tazewell amateur Buck Brittain put himself in prime position to change that.
Brittain (The Virginian GC) made seven birdies and two bogeys in Thursday’s first round and will enter Friday’s second and final round with a one-shot edge over Chester professional Rick Schuller and Virginia Beach amateur Roger Newsom, each of whom returned 4-under-par 68s.
Those three will comprise the final grouping on Friday, which will tee off at 12:10 p.m. off No. 1.
Brittain’s victory at Two Rivers last year was his first in a VSGA sponsored championship and came in his maiden senior campaign.
“I didn’t have any expectations last year,” Brittain said. “I was actually playing to get exempt for the following year. I wasn’t really thinking about winning.”
Brittain has played three Senior Open rounds at Two Rivers and has shot in the 60s all three times. He posted a pair of 69s last September to win by a shot over Schuller.
“It’s a lot different course this year,” Brittain said. “It’s drier this year than it was last year. I thought the par 5s played a little shorter for me. With it a little firmer, you have to be a little more careful with your lines, because your ball is going to roll through the fairways. It seems like these fairways are hogbacks. You’ve got to hit it in the center for it to stay in the center.”
Of the players occupying the top five spots on the leaderboard, four are past champions of the event. Schuller won in 2013, and Newsom followed the next year with a championship of his own.
Professional Brendan McGrath was the 18-hole leader in 2016, when fellow professional Ricky Touma won his lone title. Williamsburg amateur Dave Pulk, a member at Two Rivers, won the Senior Open in 2015. McGrath and Pulk both shot 69 and are tied for fourth.
Newsom, who also has two State Open of Virginia titles to his credit, made five birdies and had just one bogey, a three-putt on the par-4 15th hole. Newsom, who didn’t play last year at Two Rivers, raved about the condition of the course after his round on Thursday.
“The greens just so good here, that if you don’t make putts, it’s on you,” he said. “It’s not anybody else’s fault.”
Schuller’s round included a tap-in eagle on No. 3 and another near eagle on No. 8. He used a 4-iron for his second shot on the par-5 3rd, and the ball settled a foot behind the hole for the easy eagle conversion. On 8, a drivable par 4, his tee shot settled 10 feet from the hole, and he two-putted for birdie.
Schuller said he didn’t make many lengthy putts on Thursday, instead relying on his iron play to score.
“Everything was either a real close, or me just rolling it up there and tapping it in,” he said.
Pulk also had an eagle on his scorecard, hitting driver off the tee on No. 16 and a 3-wood to 15 feet before converting the putt.
McGrath said he hasn’t played particularly well in recent months, so his round on Thursday was a welcome surprise. He made two birdies on each side, and his lone blemish was a bogey on the par-4 5th hole.
“I was pretty patient with myself today,” he said. “I played great for six months this year and I haven’t played well for two months. That’s golf. I was just trying to be patient, and I did well today.”
Four amateurs posted 1-under rounds of 71 Thursday to tie for sixth and round out the top 10: Richmond’s Robert Friend (The Brookwoods GC), Wytheville’s David Schmidt (Wytheville GC), Glen Allen’s David Jordan (Willow Oaks CC), and Midlothian’s Robert Nussey (Brandermill CC).
Chris Lang is the Editor of Virginia Golfer Magazine and Manager, Digital Media for the VSGA. The Senior Open of Virginia is conducted jointly by the VSGA and the Middle Atlantic PGA.