Mcrae, Fallon Share Lead At 56th Pre-senior Championship
Rod McRae III of Baltusrol and Tom Fallon of Colts Neck both carded rounds of three-over-par 74 to share the first round lead of the 36-hole NJSGA 56th Pre-Senior Championship played Monday under windy conditions at the Rumson Country Club.
McRae and Fallon led by only one shot over Andre Bolukbas of Rockleigh, John Capra of Stanton Ridge and Patrick O’Brien of Apple Mountain. Five more golfers carded 76s.
A total of 43 golfers from the field of 107 who shot 81 or better advanced to Tuesday’s final round.
McRae, who had never played the 6,745-yard venue, bogeyed his final hole, the par-4, 396-yard ninth hole, when he misdirected his tee shot at another flag straight-away, instead of placing his shot correctly for the dogleg left.
The drive blocked him out for an approach and he settled for the bogey, his only one on his final nine holes.
“On the ninth hole, I was lucky I hit it straight, but I was blocked out,” said McRae, 48, a resident of Watchung whose firm, McRae Capital Management, is an NJSGA sponsor. “To shoot a round like this, and knowing how hard it was for everybody else, I’m really happy with it.
“The wind bothered me on my irons. But I started hitting a lot of greens on my back nine,” said McRae, the 2004 Baltusrol Golf Club champion.
Fallon, who won the 1999 NJSGA Mid-Amateur after advancing to the round of 16 at the U.S. Mid-Amateur in 1998, got back on track last year when he won the Eagle Oaks Invitational.
Fallon, 47, who lives in Fair Haven, has been suffering from a bad back in recent years. His resume also includes a third place in the 2006 State Amateur and a third place in the Pre-Senior in 2010.
“I haven’t played a lot. I got out here Sunday, but it was windy and cold. My length off the tee is to my advantage,” said Fallon, a former financial advisor who recently purchased a salon called “Hair Color Xperts” in Holmdel.
His putter let him down over his back nine when he three-putted three times and folur-putted once. His card included two birdies.
“I haven’t played this course in 15 years. To win something like this that the NJSGA sponsors would be an honor,” Fallon said.
