Scott Barr is no stranger to travelling for golf events, but he may have found a happy hunting ground in Albury.
West Australian Barr, the epitome of a golf journeyman, fired a brilliant 7-under-par 65 to leap to the first-round lead of the New South Wales Senior Open at Thurgoona Country Club Resort.
With a swag of “bigger names” in the field, the Asian Tour winner perhaps wasn’t prominent in pre-event discussions of the top picks.
Only keen form analysts would recall that Barr finished 15th at Thurgoona in 2022, but while carrying a painful wrist injury.
In 2023, he stormed home here to finish runner-up to Adam Henwood and now in 2024 with a mission on his mind, Barr is clearly keen to take the next step.
“I feel like I know the course a bit now, the lines off the tees you learn a little bit more each time and I feel like I know the shots required around here a bit more,” Barr said.
“Is it unfinished business? Yeah, sort of, but it would just be nice to win.
“If I can get the engine rolling each day, I should be OK because I feel like I’m playing pretty well most days I’m out here.
“I’m on a journey – I’ve entered the (American) Champions Tour qualifying school and I feel like I’m capable of conquering that dream and this is a real part of the process of getting there.”
Barr enjoys a two-shot buffer after the first of three rounds at Thurgoona, but the leaderboard is full of well credentialed rivals.
David McKenzie shot a remarkable 67, while his fellow Victorians Euan Walters and Terry Pilkadaris are a further shot back alongside NSW legend Peter Lonard.
RELATED LINKS: Leaderboard – 2024 NSW Senior Open
Peter Senior and Legends Tour newcomer Mat Goggin are both at -2 and among 25 players who broke par on a brilliant day for scoring.
Barr made a lovely birdie on the tough third hole, but didn’t really catch fire until the back nine when a series of great wedges set up birdies on the 10th, 11thand 17th holes.
In the interim, he made a two-putt birdie on the par-5 14th, chipped in for another on the 15th and made two spectacular par savers on the 16th and 18thholes.
“It was good, (but) there were three or four situations out there when I was happy to walk away with a par where I managed to hole out to keep the round rolling.”
McKenzie, who began his round on the 10th, birdied three holes early, but by the time he endured a horrendous “horseshoe” lipout on the second green, he was back to one over.
But he rammed in a 6m putt on the third which triggered a spectacular closing hour in which he six of his last seven holes to scythe through the field.
“I’ve actually been playing well for a while but haven’t really gotten any reward for my good shots, so it was good to see a few go in there at the end,” McKenzie said.
Dual Australian Open champ Lonard and Goggin – a runner-up in the national Open in 2008 – were grouped with Pilkadaris and the trio shape as a group to watch again on Saturday if their putters can collectively heat up.There will be a 36-hole cut after Saturday’s play with 50 pros and ties playing in Sunday’s final round.
