Former Trail resident Brian De Biasio is in the mix at the Senior and Super-Senior Men’s championship at the Christina Lake Golf Club.
De Biasio fired a first round 1-under par 71 to sit four strokes back of the Senior leader John Russell of Chestermere, Alta. who finished with a 67.
De Biasio, currently of Qualicum Beach, dropped five birdies, to go with two bogies and a double bogey on the 17th hole. Russell was already cultivating a lead at three-under at the turn, and finished with only a single fault on his scorecard, a bogey on number 16, the course’s shortest hole. Russell is one of five non-BC residents competing in the 54-hole, three-day event.
The Chestermere resident sits a single stroke ahead of former champions Doug Roxburgh and Gudmund Lindbjerg who are currently tied for second at -4. Defending champion, Roxburgh, and four-time back-to-back champion, Lindbjerg shot 68 on day-1 each carding five birdies and one bogey.
Lance Lundy, of Pemberton, follows close behind after shooting a three-under-par 69 including back-to-back birdies on numbers 15 and 16, while four players are tied for fifth; Jim Shaw, John Gallacher, William MacPherson and Jeff Omland all shot -2 (70).
Nine players finished under par with seven players within three strokes of first place. A single hole-in-one early in the morning by Murray McAllindon, of Victoria, highlighted the day.
McAllindon hit a 7 iron 158 yards on number 16 for his third-ever hole-in-one, his first in competition.
“When it was in the air I said, ‘I can’t hit it any better than that’, and when it landed there was a scorer up by the green, he said it bounced twice and rolled a few feet into the hole,” explained McAllindon.
Lindbjerg leads the Super-Senior Championship, for competitors 65 years of age and older, by five strokes over Kent Brown of Colville, WA., a former Birchbank Men’s Open champion. Ray Henry of Victoria, Rick Weihe of Bellingham, WA., and last year’s Super-Senior champion Tony Hatchwell of Nanaimo are all tied at +1 (73) for second.