Australian Senior Golfer

FRED COUPLES put on a master class at the US Champions Tour 2011 AT&T Championship to street the field by seven strokes on the TPC San Antonio Canyons Course in Texas.

Couples followed up his opening rounds of 65 and a course record 62 with a bogey-free 6-under 66 to finish at a total of 23-under – the largest winning margin on the tour this year.

It was his 6th win in two seasons on the over 50’s circuit and his second since undergoing what has been termed “non-traditional” treatments on his back in Germany earlier in the year.

Couples has suffered from nagging back issues for years and the German treatments have allowed him to come back and play an unprecedented (in recent times) three tournaments in a row and to do some extensive work on his game.

“I haven’t had a seven-shot lead since ’92 or ’90 or whenever the heck it was,” Couples said.

“I probably may never ever get another one. It’s a weird feeling, and I was kind of unnerved (on the front side). But once we got to the back nine I played much better and I pulled away to a lead that was plenty.”

Mark Calcavecchia shot a 66 to finish second while Charles Schwab Cup points leader Tom Lehman and John Cook tied for third at 14 under after closing with 66s.

Peter Senior fifth and still has Charles Schwab Cup hopes

Australia’s Peter Senior had yet another top 10 finish to retain his third spot on the season long points table.

Senior had a bogey-free, 13-birdie tournament and carded rounds of 69, 67 and 67 to finish alone in fifth spot on 13-under.

The 51 year old has had an ultra consistent year with three runners-up finishes, one third placing and 12 top tens.

What he hasn’t had is a win and that is probably what he will need to take the Cup when the top 30 on the tour battle it out in the final event for the year in two weeks time.

That event is the 2011 Charles Schwab Cup Championship which will take place at the TPC Harding Park Golf Club in San Francisco with a prize purse of US$2,500,000.

KENNY PERRY has won his maiden US Champions Tour title with a one stroke victory at the 2011 SAS Championship at the Prestonwood Country Club in North Carolina.

The 51 year old fired a two under 70 to defeat joint runners-up Jeff Sluman and John Huston.

Australia’s Peter Senior had one of his worst results of the year, opening with a fine 67 in the first round but fading with 73 then 78 to finish tied for 37th. Senior remains sixth on the money list.

Perry, who has 14 US PGA Tour wins under his belt, has now been competing on the Champions Tour for two years and has cracked a win at his 11th attempt.

Perry almost pulled out of the event after hearing of the death of his 59 year old sister Kay after a long battle with breast cancer.

“When I heard the news last night, it was a long night,” Perry said. “I didn’t sleep a lot, thought about just getting on a plane and heading home. But Dad was great. He called me, he said, ‘Son, you just need to go out there and represent Kay today.’”

He did, highlighting his round with a 30-foot eagle putt on the par-5 17th.

“I was very calm all day. I had no nerves,” he said. “Normally, I’m a little jumpy, a little jittery, tense. Today, I was just – I felt like I was on a low. I was really down. I was kind of depressed, and my swing was in rhythm. It wasn’t fast, and I had great control of the golf ball.”

Defending Champion Russ Cochran closed with a 71 to finish fourth at 8 under, a stroke ahead of Fred Couples (70).

Tom Lehman (72) tied for 12th at 4 under, maintaining his lead in Charles Schwab Cup points race. Mark Calcavecchia (68, T10) is second and Senior remains in third spot.

The Champions Tour moves on to the 2011 Insperity Championship at The Woodlands Golf Club in Texas this week where Fred Couples is the defending champion.

PETER SENIOR goes into the 2011 Boeing Classic at TPC Snoqualmie Ridge in Washington State this weekend still searching for his elusive maiden US Champions Tour victory.

As noted on the US PGA Tour website this week, Senior has been playing “wonderful golf” this year.

“It seems like every week he’s in with a chance to win,” the website said, highlighting the fact that the 52 year old Australian is the only player on the tour to have been in the top 10 in the four US senior majors this year.

In his second year on the tour , Senior lost the Regions Tradition in a playoff to Tom Lehman and missed by one shot of joining the Fred Couples-John Cook playoff at the Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship last week.

Senior admitted the frustration is getting to him.

“Becoming the same thing every week, isn’t it?” he said. “I just don’t seem to produce anything on Sunday. [It’s] just starting to really bug me.”

As noted, all that has separated him from the winner’s circle is a timely putt or two.

“But I seem to do it a lot on Sundays,” he said. “I just don’t make many putts on Sunday.”

“I’m really happy with the golf I’ve been playing. I’d just like to hoist something. It’s been nearly two years, and I’ve had plenty of opportunity and haven’t closed one out yet. So yeah, I just feel a little disappointed. Hopefully it’ll happen soon.”

There will be plenty of quality golfers happy to stand in his way this weekend, beginning with last week’s Senior Players Champion Fred Couples, playing in what for him is a home town tournament.

“I’m always excited to come back, as I’ve said a million times,” Couples said. There haven’t been a whole lot of tournaments in Seattle, and it’s just very nice to be up here.”

The 2011 Boeing Classic is being telecast in Australia on Fox Sports at a much more user friendly time than has been lately the case for the Champions Tour.

1st Round Live Saturday 8.30am to 10.30am; 2nd Round Sunday 8.30 am to 11am; Monday 12.30 pm to 2pm.

Peter Senior goes so very close again on the US Champions Tour

PETER SENIOR has missed the playoff for the year’s final US Champions Tour major by a stroke.

A bogey on the 15th left him one short of American duo Fred Couples and John Cook who finished the 2011 Senior Players Championship tied on 11-under.

Couples knocked in a three foot birdie putt on the third playoff hole to take his first senior major.

With two birdies and two bogies in his even par final round, Senior finished alone in third spot.

The 52 year old Queenslander continued his great run this year and was never far off the pace at the  Westchester Country Club’s West Course in Harrison, New York, opening with a 5-under round of 66 and following that with rounds of 69, 68 and 71.

The win pushed his winnings on the Champions Tour this year over the million dollar mark (US$1,004,229) and he is now seventh on the money list.  Senior has finished in the top six in four of the five senior majors this year.

Couples was fresh from some type of alternative procedure on his notoriously temperamental back in Germany but still wasn’t entirely comfortable on the course.

The 1992 Masters champion won four times on the over 50’s tour last year but has been absent for much of 2011 and this was his first win this year.

He had to battle s stiff wind and a sore left hip that began giving him trouble during a nearly two-hour rain delay.

“I wouldn’t say I was playing awesome golf before the rain delay but it wasn’t bad,” Couples said. “After the rain delay, I just didn’t feel very good. I hit some good drives but I was not all that great.”

Couples joined Jack Nicklaus and Raymond Floyd as the only players to win both The Players Championship on the regular tour and the Senior Players and thus earned a spot in The Players next year.

“That’s great,” Couples said. “I get to play with the studs, so that’ll be fun.”

Cook (70) held a share of the lead for nine holes but bogeyed No. 16 and missed birdie putts on the final two holes, forcing the second straight playoff and fourth overall in the event.

Tom Lehman (68) was fourth at 9 under, a stroke ahead of 2010 winner Mark O’Meara (69), with first-round leader Jeff Sluamn (70) slipping into a five-way tie for sixth.

PETER SENIOR fired a blemish-free five under 66 to be just one stroke behind leader Jeff Sluman after the first round of the year’s final senior golf major today.

Senior collected five birdies to be tied for second with Gary Hallberg at the 2011 Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship on the Westchester Country Club’s tree-lined West Course in Harrison, New York.

2009 winner Jay Haas, Corey Pavin and Michael Allen were two strokes back at 67, while Fred Couples, defending champion Mark O’Meara and Tommy Armour III had 68s. Tom Watson struggled, shooting a 76.

Sluman had seven birdies in an 11-hole stretch from No. 4 to 14, including three in a row on Nos. 12-14. He bogeyed the par-3 16th, and then closed with two pars.

Sluman holed a 45-foot putt on the 12th, chipped in from 25 feet with a 9-iron on 13, then made a 3-footer on 14.

“I made one of those bombs,” Sluman said. “I was just trying to two-putt and it fell into the hole. I followed it up on 13 from 25 feet. Making a 45-footer and following it up with a 25-footer is not something I’m used to.”

Couples, playing in his first event since undergoing treatment on his back six weeks ago in Germany, was 5 under through 11 holes, but dropped three strokes with bogeys on Nos. 12-14. He birdied No. 16 to get back to 3 under.

“If I hadn’t gone to Germany, I wouldn’t be playing right now,” Couples said. “I’d still be trying to see if it would thaw out and I don’t think it will. So that’s basically why I’m here after going there.”

Westchester Country Club was the site of a PGA TOUR event from 1963-2007 and most players had fond memories of the course that has changed little since.

“Absolutely, you have a comfort zone,” Sluman said. “Anytime you have played at a place and I would guess I’ve probably played 80 rounds here and I should have a pretty good idea of what you need to do under all conditions.”

The 2011 Senior Players Championship is being telecast in Australian on Fox Sports.

Senior...one shot and some very shaky hands from a playoff

PETER SENIOR has again come agonisingly close to his maiden US Champions Tour win finishing just one stroke behind Jay Hass at the 2011 3M Championship in Blaine, Minnesota.

After opening rounds of 65 and 67 on the par 72 TPC Twin Cities Golf Course, Senior went into the final round as joint leader on 12-under with American John Huston.

He played solidly before dropping a shot on the 9th and then fought back with three birdies coming home.

His final tally of 70 was just one adrift of Haas, who had a two putt from 30 foot out to win but nervously backed off twice.

Speaking later, Haas sounded like he had been a three putt waiting to happen.

“I probably should have just run up there and hit because the more I backed off the more my arm started to shake and my hands were shaking,” Haas said.

“I’m all about speed, and I have a picture in my head of how hard I want to hit it and I just couldn’t see that speed for some reason. I was just thinking about don’t hit it fat, don’t rip it by, don’t do all this stuff, all these negative thoughts, so I backed away. Then I kind of heard something kind of rustling around and I backed away again. I was just trying to be as ready as I could be.”

In the end he managed to stay the nerves and sink the second putt for a 68 to finish at 15-under.

Senior tied for second with Kenny Perry (66) and Tom Lehman (68).

The 52 year old Australian had been eligible to play in the World Golf Championship event in Ohio thanks to his Australian PGA Championship victory but chose instead to contest the 3M.

He would have ended up with a substantial cheque whatever the result at Firestone but instead pocketed his near miss and US$128,000 in Blaine.

Senior is now 7th on the 2011 Champions Tour Charles Schwab Cup Points table and 8th on the money list with almost US$810,00 in winnings for the year.

Olin Browne wins the 2011 US Senior Open

AMERICAN golfer Olin Browne has realised a long held dream by winning his first golf major at the ripe old age of 52.

As a youngster with big ambitions and not so much game, Browne used to go to a local par-3 course with his then girlfriend Pam and imagine what it would be like to win a national championship.

Now he has captured the biggest victory of his life, holding off double-major winner Mark O’Meara to win the 2011 US Senior Open by three strokes.

“This goes back a long way for us,” Browne said of the aspirations he and now wife Pam had first considered some 30 years ago.

When Browne rolled in a 30 foot birdie putt on the last to applause from the large crowd at the Inverness Golf Club in Toledo, Ohio, it was his first win in 141 consecutive tournaments – since the 2005 Deutsche Bank.

His even-par 71 followed rounds of 64, 69 and 65 and left him at 15-under 269.

Browne said he struggled with nerves on the front side, but still was able to sidestep any gaffes. He had made 15 birdies and two eagles to blitz the field and take a two-stroke lead into the final round. But in the last 18 holes, he played within himself and was content to craft pars while everyone else tried to catch him.

O’Meara (72, 12-under), winner of the 1998 Masters and British Open, caught up but couldn’t hang on.

“This is a huge victory for him,” O’Meara said. “I know it’s his first win out here on the Champions Tour. It’s a major championship. You look at the leaderboard, there’s a lot of quality players up there at the top of the leaderboard. I think Olin should be very proud of himself.”

Mark Calcavecchia finished alone in third place with a closing 69 putting him at 11-under, while Hale Irwin (68) and Joey Sindelar (70) finished tied for fourth on 10 under.

Peter Senior comes home in outright 6th

Australia’s Peter Senior finished at 9-under in outright sixth. Senior had a huge tournament and received loads of exposure but will probably be ruing what might have been.

The 52 year old Queenslander took the outright lead briefly midway through his first round and the opportunity was there for the taking.

He finished with his worst scoring round of the tournament, an even par 71 comprised of four birdies and four bogeys. His first three rounds were 69, 67 and 68.

PETER SENIOR continues on his merry way with his sixth straight top 10 finish on the 2011 US Champions Tour.

The 51 year old Australian PGA Champion began his third and final round at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open in New York with three straight birdies and added three more at 10, 11 and 14 to be just one stroke behind the leaders in the mid stages.

A solitary bogey on 15 saw him finish with rounds of 70, 69 and 67, tied for sixth and six strokes behind the winner, American tour rookie John Huston.

Huston, a seven time winner on the US PGA Tour and playing just his third Champions Tour event, won by three strokes over Nick Price.

Senior has won US$547,000 on the tour this year and is ninth on the money list.

The Champions Tour moves to Canada this weekend for the 2011 Montreal Championship at the Club de Golf Fontainebleau in Montreal, Quebec.

PETER “CHOOK” FOWLER ended a two year wait for a maiden European Senior Tour title and gave himself an early birthday present with a three stroke victory in the 2011 ISPS Handa Senior Masters in England at the weekend.

In the US, fellow senior Aussie golfer Peter Senior recorded his fifth consecutive top ten finish on the Champions Tour.

Fowler celebrates his 52nd birthday on Thursday and will have double cause for celebration after carding a final round 70 to finish on ten under par 209 for the tournament.

Fowler initially struggled with a back injury upon joining the Senior Tour in June 2009 but was runner up to Sandy Lyle in the ISPS Handa Senior World Championship in China in March, and he continued that form at Stapleford Park in Melton Mowbray, England, posting a second consecutive bogey free round to secure the title.

“I’ve been trying to win again for the last 18 years so this is a great feeling,” said Fowler, who won the 1993 BMW International Open on The European Tour.

“I’ve been trying to beat these guys for years now and I’ve finally got one up on them. I played with (Scotland’s) Andrew Oldcorn and (Victorian) Michael Harwood for the final two rounds and they are two class players. Both have won the PGA Championship and many other tournaments so it was hard work to stay in front.

“I’ve played solidly for the last six months now with lots of rehab to help my back and it’s been a gradual progress. I had a couple of small wins in Tasmania and South Australia in two round tournaments so I had a bit of practice winning and that really helped this week.

“When I had back surgery two years ago I didn’t know if I would even play Tour golf again so this victory means a lot.”

Fowler and Harwood fired five-under 68’s to share the lead after the first round and just one stroke separated them going into the final day but the big Victorian faded to finish in 9th place.

Oldcorn had also started the final day one behind Fowler and ended with a 72, putting him at 7-under in second place.

Senior 9th in Iowa

A final hole bogey was a costly mistake for Peter Senior at the Principal Charity Classic in Iowa but his tournament total of 9-under was enough for his fifth consecutive top ten on the lucrative US Champions Tour on Monday.

Senior shot rounds of 67, 67 and 70 to finish five strokes behind the winner, American Bob Gilder, who took his 10th Champions Tour title at the Glen Oaks Country Club in West Des Moines.

Senior earned US$43,000 for his trouble and retained his 9th place position on the 2011 money list.

The 51 year old Queenslander is now fifth on the season long Charles Schwab Cup points table and is actually the tour’s No 1 in the “Power Rankings” coming into the Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn in North Carolina this weekend.

TOM WATSON showed all his renowned competitive spirit to take the 2011 US Senior PGA Championship in a sudden death playoff at the Valhalla Golf Club in Kentucky today.

At 61 Watson became the second oldest player (pipped by a year by Jock Hutchison at the same event in 1947) to win a golf major.

“Pretty good for an old geezer,” Watson said when introduced to take the trophy. “It’s what I am out here to do.”

Watson drained a three foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to beat fellow American David Eger after they had finished deadlocked at 10 under after 72 holes.

“When you’re walking up the 18th hole and you have a chance to win a tournament like this, you’re nervous,” Watson said. “You’re nervous. But you’ve been there before. And I said, ‘okay, I know that level of feeling in my gut and now let’s go take care of business,’” Watson said.

Australia’s Peter Senior was again in contention in the home stretch of what was the Champion Tour’s second major of the year.

Senior got within two strokes of the leaders after 12 holes and had his opportunities for more birdies late but ended tied for 5th with a 3-under par 69.

Japan’s Kiyoshi Murota finished alone in third, one shot out of the playoff, and Hale Irwin, who had the lead at times and was bidding to become the oldest major champ of all time at 65 (he turns 66 on Friday) finished in fourth at 8 under.

Senior finished at 7-under tied with Argentinean Eduardo Romero.

The 51 year old Queenslander’s five birdies against two bogeys performance saw him pocket US$70,000 to take his earnings in a super consistent season to a total of US$430,000 in just seven events.
Fellow Australian Mike Harwood fought back from a second round 75 to finish tied for 39th whilst Peter Fowler was 66th. West Australian Lyndsay Stephen missed the cut in what was his first Champions Tour appearance.