After posting an impressive 68 during the opening round at the 2024 Senior Open Championship, Stephen Ames said that sluggish play might have kept him from going even lower.
“The pace of play kind of hindered us a little bit coming down at the end there. So that kind of threw me off-balance,” Ames said Thursday.
On Friday the winds picked up in the morning and although Ames could only manage an even-par 72 at Carnoustie, he was happy to do so. The score put him at 4 under at the midway point and had him in the lead after the early wave finished during the second round.
“It was more going for the middle of the greens, 25-, 30-footers. It was tough to make birdies from there,” he said. “And also they did a good job of tucking the pins. It was obviously a bit more difficult to get birdies out there.”
Even par during Round 2 for Stephen Ames, who remains our solo leader at four-under 🤝#SeniorOpen | @ROLEX pic.twitter.com/Dibr5GmQmS
— Legends Tour (@euLegendsTour) July 26, 2024
Ames is no stranger to being atop the leaderboard. In 15 PGA Tour Champions starts this season, he has a pair of victories and 10 top-10 finishes. And although he was perturbed with Thursday’s slow play, he’s in a happy place overall, and that’s led to his consistency.
“Being calm, I guess, more than anything else. You’re going to hit bad shots. That’s golf. You’re human. Accepting those and moving on rather than trying to analyze why I hit the bad shot. Short game has been good and putter has been working nicely, too,” he said. “I think it’s overall just everything is kind of clicking nicely for me, and I’m in a happier part of my life right now, so it’s wonderful.”
And how did a native of Trinidad and Tobago who has also lived in Canada and Florida become an expert at links golf? Practice, of course. Ames is a regular at Royal Birkdale and also played St. Andrews with his wife in advance of this event.
“I think getting used to the grasses, playing the bump-and-runs, running it up, all those kind of shots, I had to kind of relearn as we normally do when we come over here,” Ames said. ” I think it did a lot, yes, for sure.”