TOLEDO, Ohio — Olin Browne likes old stuff. That’s a perfect attitude for someone playing on the over-50 tour.
On a course he didn’t know but has come to love, Browne followed a record-tying 64 with a solid 69 on Friday to take a one-shot lead over a talent-laden leaderboard in the rain-delayed second round of the U.S. Senior Open.
“I really like this old style,” he said of venerable In-verness Club.
Mark O’Meara, who shot a 68, was one of a number of major championship winners lurking close to Browne. He was one stroke back.
“Eight-under after two rounds around this golf course is good,” O’Meara said. “I’ve got my work cut out for me because there’s a lot of good players on that leaderboard.”
Browne, who led by two strokes after matching the tournament’s low first-round score, had a double bogey and a bogey but added five birdies — including 3s on the two closing par 4s. He was at 9-under 133 at Inverness, which has hosted four U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships, a U.S. Amateur and the 2003 U.S. Senior Open.
Inverness, famous as the first club to officially welcome pros to compete at a U.S. Open in 1920, is growing on Browne.
“I hadn’t played here before,” he said after completing his second round under cloudy skies. “I wasn’t here for the PGAs and I wasn’t 50 in ’03. It’s just a really cool layout. I love the way the holes are framed.”
No wonder he likes it so much: He’s been tearing it up.
Then again, he played a course softened by 4 inches of rain in the last week. The forecast calls for high heat and humidity the next two days, which could speed up the greens.
