West Des Moines’ Gene Elliott (pictured above), fresh off an appearance in the Round of 32 at the U.S. Senior Amateur, didn’t let off the gas in the opening round of the 39th Iowa Senior Amateur at Burlington Golf Club. Elliott’s opening round 69 (-3) leads by one shot over Burlington’s own John O’Neill. Gary Ellis (Norwalk) and Tom Norton (Muscatine) shot 72 (E) and are three strokes back of the pace.

Elliott was able to string together a total of six birdies on the day, including 4 in a ten-hole stretch.

O’Neill, who grew up just a pitching wedge away from the first hole at BGC, put that ‘knowledge’ of BGC to work. His day began with 13 straight pars and included 16 pars overall mixed in with a pair of birdies.

In the Super Senior Division (65 and older) another ‘local’ is atop the leaderboard. Fort Madison’s Jim Butler put together a 71 (-1) round of his own that included five birdies. Butler managed only three pars on the front nine, but still turned in 35 (-1) thanks to four birdies. John Peters (Muscatine) sits just three back of Butler at 74 (+2).

Click here for a recap of scoring.