GOLF:DES SMYTH is just two shots behind leader Angel Franco after yesterday's opening round of the end-of-season Castellon Senior Tour Championship yesterday.
Smyth shot a six-under-par 66 to lie in joint third behind the Paraguayan, who carded the lowest round of his Senior Tour career.
Cork's Denis O'Sullivan is tied for seventh after a solid 68, while Jimmy Heggarty is a shot further back.
The 51-year-old Franco has finished runner-up five times in his Senior Tour career, but is determined to go one better at Club de Campo del Mediterráneo.
Of the eight players still holding a realistic chance of winning the Senior Tour Order of Merit, Sam Torrance made the best start, with a birdie on the last hole to cap a five-under-par 67. Torrance is defending the title and needs to finish in at least the top four to have any chance of succeeding fellow former Ryder Cup captain Ian Woosnam as winner of the John Jacobs Trophy.
