PETER SENIOR has arrived at the scene of the 2010 US Senior Open Championship brimming with confidence following his third placing at the Senior British Open.

The veteran Aussie golfer believes the tight, tree lined Sahalee Country Club course in Seattle, Washington, will suit his game.

The tournament gets underway Friday AEST with Fox Sports coverage beginning from 7am to 11am.

‘It’s not often you get to play in three consecutive Major Championships so putting the fatigue aside I’m excited to be here after flying in from the UK last night,” Senior said in his player blog this week.

“My game has been pretty consistent all year and I am finally starting to believe I can compete with these guys.”

“Tee to green has been solid but my putting has let me down at various times. Although on Sunday I putted super at Carnoustie and hope this might be the start to some good scoring.”

“The course this week is heavily tree lined and very narrow. The shorter hitters will have a big advantage. I think the course will suit me as I’m driving the ball well, but as we all know this game is full of surprises.”

Senior will be facing stiff competition in his bid for his first US senior tour win – beginning with British Senior Open Champion Bernhard Langer.

Langer, winner on ten occasions on the Champions Tour since turning 50, will be out to become the first player to win consecutive senior majors since Tom Watson in 2003.

“It won’t be easy to win back-to-back senior majors but I will give it my best shot,” the 52 year-old German, who has finished T6 and T22 in his last attempts at the title, said.

“Obviously I will take some good confidence and form over there but it’s going to be a tough golf course so we’ll have to see.”

Defending champion is American Fred Funk who was the runaway winner 12 months ago at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Indiana. Funk fired a closing round 65 to win the US Senior Open by six shots from Joey Sindelar.

Another clear threat is the US Champions Tour rookie standout Fred Couples.

Couples has had three victories on the tour this year and last week chose to rest up his golfing loafers – and his back – and sat out the Senior British Open.

“It’s a tough course,” Couples said this week. “For four days to play a course like this and do well is going to take a lot from the best players, and that will be the guy who wins, for sure.”

Other contenders include the likes of Tom Lehman, Corey Pavin, Mark Calcavecchia, Loren Roberts, Larry Mize, Tom Kite, Mark O’Meara, Tom Watson, Ben Crenshaw and David Frost.

The only one other Australian in the field is 1997 champion Graham Marsh.

Australian Fox Sports Coverage is from 7am to 11am (AEST) for the first two rounds Friday and Saturday, 6am to 9am for the final rounds Sunday Monday.

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GREG NORMAN has been well and truly Funked in his latest attempt to win a major senior golf title.

Playing in the final group at the US Senior Open, Norman watched fellow competitor Fred Funk play superb golf to take the tournament by six strokes.

At the aptly named (for some) Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, Indiana, Norman again faded in the final round of a major championship, struggling to a one over par 73.

He started the day just one shot off the pace but had to settle for fourth place tied with Senior British Open winner Loren Roberts, who closed with a 64.

It was a triumph for the 53 year old Funk, whose final round seven under 65 gave him a tournament record 20-under total.

“It’s something I really didn’t fathom happening, but the biggest thing is just getting my name on that trophy,” Funk, who lost a playoff with Roberts for the Senior British Open last week, said.

It was his second senior major and goes in the cupboard with eight PGA Tour wins and five Champions Tour victories.

Funk commented later he thought Norman lost some confidence on the 6th, when the two time Open Champion found water off the tee on the way to a double-bogey.
“Just momentum, it wasn’t my day,” Norman said of his round.

“No matter what I did it seemed, it was the wrong thing.”

“Freddy played great today and I played poor. He deserves to win, when you shoot seven-under, that’s very, very impressive.”
Funk said Norman didn’t seem to be quite on his game.

“He just didn’t have control of the golf ball like he did yesterday,” Funk said.
“He didn’t drive quite as good and got himself into a little bit of trouble. And a couple of his good shots didn’t turn out good and it started eating at him a little bit.

“And he is seeing me a couple of times, and I think it gets irritating when your playing partner hits a couple of scruffies and ends up making pars on the holes and it can eat at you pretty good.

“It started going down when he hit a good shot on six and hit that tree and went in the water. It wasn’t that bad of a shot, and you don’t think that tree is going to come into play and it did.”

American Joey Sindelar (70) finished second at 14 under, Russ Cochran (68) was 12 under, and Roberts and Norman followed at 11 under.
British Open runner up Tom Watson, who has been hampered by injury, shot an even par final round to finish at two over and tied for 43rd.

We were hoping to be proved wrong but unfortunately not:

Norman leads the US Senior Open, but don’t hock the silverware just yet