Page 17 - ARUBA TODAY

A17
SPORTS Friday 30 June 2017

‘Spooky’ in Salem:
Triplett’s 62 ties
U.S. Senior WEATHER
Open record

By JIMMY GOLEN , DELAYED
AP Sports Writer
PEABODY, Mass. (AP) —
The witch on her broom-
stick that graces the Salem
Country Club logo could
hardly concoct a spell so
scary as the blood-red
scoreboard from the first
round of the U.S. Senior
Open.
On a day that saw 40 play-
ers break par, Kirk Triplett
matched the PGA Cham-
pions Tour major record
with an 8-under 62 on
Thursday to take a one-
stroke leader over Olin
Browne. The last time the
Senior Open was played at
the Donald Ross course, in
2011, winner Bruce Fleisch-
er finished at even par.
But Triplett said goodbye
to the black numbers on
his first hole, rose to the top
of the leaderboard after
making the turn and then
climbed to 8 under when
he holed out a 9-iron from
120 yards on the 341-yard,
par-4 fourth hole (his 13th
of the day).
“I think it was getting a little
spooky there, that part,”
Triplett said as he sat just
miles from the site of the
Colonial witch trials that
made Salem famous. “To-
day I just got some mo-
mentum. At one point dur-
ing the round, I said, ‘OK,
this is your day. Grab it.
Go.’”
Two weeks after Brooks Ko-
epka won the U.S. Open at
Erin Hills at a record-tying
16 under, the senior set
took aim at another docile
USGA setup on a windless Yang, Choi tied after day 1
course softened by rains.
Loren Roberts is the only
other player to shoot a 62 Chella choi, of south korea, reacts to a fan on the 18th hole dur-
in the tournament, setting ing the first round of the 2017 Women’s PGA Championship golf
tournament at the Olympia Fields Country Club Thursday, June 29,
the record in 2006 at Prairie 2017, in Olympia Fields, Ill.
Dunes in Kansas. Associated Press
Page 18
Continued on Page 18