ABERGAVENNY’S Glyn Davies bore the brunt of the Welsh weather as he suffered a difficult start to the SSE Enterprise Wales Senior Open in Newport today.

The 57-year-old is attached to the Twenty Ten Course at the Celtic Manor but that didn’t help him over the Roman Road Course as he carded a seven over par 77 on day one of the European Senior Tour event.

Davies was the first man out in the driving rain at 8am on day one alongside England’s Grant Wraith (also seven over par) and Frenchman Roger Sabarros (five over).

And the trio all struggled to get to grips with the course in very difficult conditions.

Davies hit bogeys on the third and fourth holes and a triple bogey eight on the par five fifth before play was suspended at 9.25am.

After restarting at midday, Davies finished under blue skies and sunshine at around 2.45pm but the strong wind was still a big factor.

“It was pretty brutal to start with – torrential rain, strong winds and pretty dark,” said Davies.

“The first five holes until they called us off were horrendous.

“You couldn’t hold a club and water was streaming down the fairways.

“It was very tough and it’s a shame that they didn’t hang on a couple of hours.

“I’m fortunate that I only live 15 minutes away so I could go home and get changed,” he added.

“When we came back it was still very tough with the wind but it was a relatively playable golf course – I just couldn’t afford to give the field a five-shot start here.”

Former Ryder Cup heroes Ian Woosnam and Sam Torrance and former Wales Open winner Steen Tinning had to wait until 2pm to get under way.

Welsh star Woosnam, the 1991 US Masters champion, is good friends with Davies after the pair played together in the Welsh Boys team in the 1970s.

“We’re the same age and played against each other as boys,” said Davies. “He was north Wales, I was south Wales.

“We played in the same Welsh Boys team but he turned professional a lot earlier than me.

“When he won the Silk Cut Masters at St Pierre (in 1983) he was staying at our house for the week.

“We’ve always kept in touch through the years.”

Davies played in the 1984 Open Championship at St Andrews, famously won by Seve Ballesteros, and made 45 appearances on the European Tour between 1984 and 1988.

He decided to give up competitive golf and concentrate on his family-run Newtown Motors business in Cwmbran in the late 1980s before joining the seniors circuit in 2010.

England's Graeme Bell is the early clubhouse leader on one under par.