Mark Calcavecchia and Mark McNulty open strongly at Senior Open

MARK Calcavecchia defied the afternoon rain to shoot a bogey-free 68 and take a three-way share of the first-round lead at the Senior Open at Walton Heath yesterday.

Bidding to become the fourth player to win both the Open and the senior version, the 51-year-old American fired two birdies either side of the turn before parring the final five holes in what proved a testing closing stretch for the 144-strong field.

Calcavecchia, winner of the Open at Troon in 1989, was joined on four-under by Ireland's Mark McNulty and Australia's Mike Harwood, who earlier benefited from still and dry conditions on the parkland course at Walton Heath that hosted the 1981 Ryder Cup.

South Africa's David Frost and unheralded Scot Albert MacKenzie were a shot behind, with defending champion Bernhard Langer of Germany one of seven players on two-under.

Three-time winner and eight-time major champion Tom Watson shot a 75, which included a double-bogey at No 8 after finding the middle of the fairway off the tee, to lie seven shots off the pace.

After Gary Player and Bob Charles, Watson is the other player to have done the Open double. MacKenzie only qualified for the event on Monday but birdied the last to lift himself above some of the star names on the senior circuit who are chasing the e221,000 first prize.

"When I saw my name up there with some players I've got so much respect for, it was just wonderful. It's the greatest day of my golfing life by a landslide," said MacKenzie, who won a regional event at Walton Heath back in 1985. One of those star names MacKenzie finds himself leading is Langer, a two-time Masters champion who is looking to become the first player to defend the Senior Open title since Christy O'Connor Jnr in 2000.

The German great was four under after seven holes but acknowledged that the "wheels fell off" when he bogeyed three out of four holes during a rocky spell of play at the start of the back nine.