There has never been a local winner of any PGA tournament at the Forest of Arden, which is a surprise and a disappointment given the calibre of the Midlands professionals, Steve Webster et al.
But David Lynn, of Staffordshire, has made a case for a redress, for a touch of regional glory this year.
In the first round of the British Masters yesterday, in windy conditions on a course with a degree of bounce that is highly unusual for the time of the year, the Stoke-on-Trent golfer brought in a card with six birdies on it and his three-under-par 69 has him level with David Howell, of Ryder Cup fame, Ben Mason and Brian Davis as joint leader.
Lynn will forever be pleased to recall that when he and Howell were amateurs, he beat Howell by eight shots to win the Greek Amateur Championship.
Whoever wins the Masters this week will definitely not do so by eight shots.
This is going to be some scrap. Good scores have been promised; good cards have been wrecked. "The course is shorter but it's a lot harder this year," said Paul Broadhurst, who knows it better than most.
Starting on the tenth, Lynn was one-under at the turn. Then he went to four-under, having hit a four-iron second to 6ft at the third (his 12th), a three-iron second to 4ft to birdie the fourth and a third shot to 4ft at the seventh. But the short eighth found him out, as it did so many of the field and this spoiled a flawless back nine that was still worth 34.
34. "A good day's work," said Lynn. "I'm not saying it's the best I've ever felt over the ball, but I am hitting the ball decently."
He was, he said, delighted with his score because he, like many others, does not believe that the course is going to get any easier.
Lynn has only played five tournaments this year, never finished higher than 20th and he's missed a couple of cuts. But as he says, and appears to be proving: "it's just nice to be playing on home soil."
Howell looked like having centre stage to himself
when he came to the 18th at four-under. But he couldn't manage his par and in that detached, "don't shoot the pianist " manner of his, he accepted his 69.
"A couple of good things happened to me today," he said. "I played really well, coped with the hard holes but I think I let myself down a bit on the parfives." He didn't birdie any of them.
Mason, from Sand Moor, who has not achieved household-name fame in his year-and-a-bit on the Tour, took his best chances to the tune of half-a-dozen birdies. He was, need it be said, very pleased.
Mason has done a lot of travelling, often not knowing whether he was in a tournament or not but now he hopes he has set himself up for a good run.
As for travelling, Davis has done more than many.
He has been in the United States, with a brigade of marauding Europeans, but he's home now and here's where he will stay for the next three months. "I have always enjoyed playing in England, in Britain and it's one of those things: I would love to win on home soil," he said.
It was nice, he said, to see his family and his friends and be reacquainted with British conditions. "It's a different type of golf over here where you can knock the ball down a bit more," he added.
Of those at two-under, Stephen Dodd stood out
for the usual reason: he doesn't stand out. The quiet man of the Tour nevertheless assembled a calm 70 despite the fact that he hasn't played much, recently. His partner's mother has just died of cancer.
"I haven't done a lot of work," said the Welshman. "But 70 was a good score at the end of the day.
At one point, Colin Montgomerie appeared to be cruising. A level-par 72, therefore, was a jolt to his equilibrium, if that's ever a word that's appropriate to Monty.
He three-putted from nowhere at the last and his contribution to the day, surprise, surprise, was couched in controversy. The pace of play, he complained, was too, too slow.
"Five- and- a- half hours," he said. "That's an hour too long."
Asked whether there had been any referees on hand to complain to, he replied: "No. And I've had my fill of referees for now."
Whatever could he have meant by that?
