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Harrell finishes the day with a 63 By DON HUNT Bob Harrell doesn't play golf at Cedar Links too often, but you get the feeling he likes playing there. Harrell, who scored his only hole-in-one at the course last year, fired a sizzling 7-under par 63 during the opening round of the Rogue Valley Stroke Play City Championships on Saturday. Harrell, 65, is competing in the senior division, and his score was five shots better than men's leader Bob Cox. While it's true that the seniors tee off a bit further up each tee box - 10 to 15 yards in this case - a 63 is a superb score under any circumstance. "I think I sank everything in sight," Harrell said after registering seven birdies, 11 pars and no bogeys on a picture-perfect afternoon. Harrell missed just one green - the eighth - but got up and down for his par. His most spectacular shot was a 40-foot birdie putt that broke about eight feet on the 12th hole. "I was just trying to get it close," Harrell said, "and the darn thing went in." The round marked the first time Harrell has ever shot under his age and it marked the first time he has been 7-under par. He shot a 6-under 66 at a course in Southern California five years ago and a 5-under 67 at Rogue Valley Country Club - his home course - five years ago. "It was just one of those days when everything went my way," Harrell said. "I hit the ball well off the tee, my approaches were solid and I putted real good. "It was like a dream come true." Harrell grew up in Riddle and never touched a golf club until he was 31 years old. He began to play golf in the Roseburg area in the early 1960s and moved to Medford in 1966. Harrell and a good friend named Abby Broughton started the Abby's Pizza chain in 1964. They sold the business in 1988 but in golf circles, Harrell is still a big cheese. Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.