Des Smyth and Denis O’Sullivan play in the OKI Castellón Senior Tour Championship this week on the same course that only two weeks ago Matteo Manassero set his new European Tour record as the youngest ever winner.
As previous winners both Irish men will be trying to set their own records at the Senior Tour Championship by becoming the first players to win the event twice - as there has been a different winner every year for the past ten events.
It was 2005 in Bahrain when Des Smyth beat John Chillas of Scotland by one stroke to take the title and 2000 when Denis O’Sullivan held off the challenge of Priscillo Diniz of Brazil and Tommy Horton of England to win at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club by Sheraton.
For the third consecutive year the season finale is being hosted at the Club de Campo del Mediterraneo, home course for Sergio Garcia, and the club where his Father, Victor, has been the Professional for many years.
This season the favourite is Boonchu Ruangkit of Thailand who is looking to seal a sensational maiden campaign, having also long since wrapped up the Rookie of the Year title, after successive victories in Brunei, Thailand and South Africa at the start of the year. More recently he won at the Benahavis Senior Masters, becoming the first player to win four times in his maiden campaign since England’s Carl Mason in 2003.
However he had to withdraw from the Sicilian Senior Open after suffering a neck injury a few weeks ago but returns to action this week in search of a second successive win on Spanish
Soil and the €64,433 cheque on offer to the winner.
Three-time John Jacobs Trophy winner Sam Torrance, who took the OKI Castellón Senior Tour Championship title in 2008, returns to the 6,800 yards, par 72 course bidding to improve on his current Order of Merit position of 14th. The Scot finished in third place at last year’s event behind runner-up Angel Franco from Paraguay who is currently third on the Order of Merit.
Last year’s winner, Mike Harwood of Australia, carded a closing round of 66 which made him the first former champion of the Volvo Masters on The European Tour to triumph at the Senior Tour’s season finale.
The Sydney man, who also won the 2009 Rookie of the Year title returns to Castellón intent on rescuing an inconsistent season in which he has finished in the top ten once, and that was at the Handa Irish Senior Open presented by Fáilte Ireland in June.
Other notable names in the field include Carl Mason, the winner of the Senior Tour Championship in his debut season in 2003, currently fifth on the Order of Merit and still seeking to surpass Tommy Horton’s record haul of 23 Senior Tour titles.
So far this season it has proved elusive for Mason - despite coming close on a few occasions.
