U.S. Senior Open: First-Round Notebook
 
Jul. 6, 2007

HAVEN, Wisc. -- A late afternoon thunderstorm caused play to be suspended at 5:05 p.m. CT Thursday and called for the day at 6:15 p.m. due to dangerous weather. Twenty-six groups had not finished the first round of the U.S. Senior Open when play was called.

ROUND 1 SCORING AVERAGES
IN RECENT U.S. SENIOR OPENS
Year Course Stroke Avg. To Par
2007 Whistling Straits 76.296 +4.296
2006 Prairie Dunes 74.917 +4.917
2005 NCR 74.245 +3.245
2004 Bellerive 75.155 +4.155
2003 Inverness 77.961 +6.961
2002 Caves Valley 76.799 +5.799
2001 Salem 76.622 +6.622
2000 Saucon Valley 74.619 +3.619

• At the time of the suspension, 14 players in the afternoon portion were under par. The last time first-round play in the U.S. Senior Open was suspended and called for the day was in 2003 at Inverness.

Eduardo Romero's 6-under-par 66 Thursday is the lowest opening-round score in a senior major championship since Peter Jacobsen, Loren Roberts and Craig Stadler all carded 5-under 65s on Thursday at Turnberry during last year's Senior British Open.

• Two-time defending champion Allen Doyle was struggling in his opening round. Doyle was at 7 over par through 13 holes at the time of the weather suspension. Doyle is bidding to become the first player to three-peat at the U.S. Senior Open and is also trying to join Miller Barber as the only other three-time winner of the prestigious event.

Dale Douglass, the 1986 U.S. Senior Open champion, made his 22nd consecutive appearance in this event. Douglass ranks second to Arnold Palmer in most appearances in the U.S. Senior Open. Palmer played in 25 consecutive championships with his last appearance coming in 2005.

• Eduardo Romero's fellow countryman from Argentina, Vicente Fernandez, carded a 3-under-par 69, his first round in the 60s at a U.S. Senior since 2003, when he posted a 64 in the second round. The round Thursday was also Fernandez' lowest first-round score in this event, bettering an even-par 70 in Round 1 last year at Prairie Dunes.