After Boonchu Ruangkit re-wrote the European Senior Tour history books last season, a number of records are also set to tumble in 2011 in what promises to be a groundbreaking 20th campaign.
Most prominent will be Carl Mason’s pursuit of the sole record for most Senior Tour victories, after the 57 year old equalled Tommy Horton’s haul of 23 titles with his triumph in the Bad Ragaz PGA Seniors Open in 2010.
Should the prolific Mason, who joined the Senior Tour in 2003, capture a 24th title in 2011 he would also equal Horton’s record of nine consecutive years with at least one victory.
The Englishman is also likely to extend his cushion as the all-time leading Senior Tour money winner in 2011, having amassed €2,147,300 in eight seasons, with Horton his nearest rival on €1,527,304.
Jamaican Delroy Cambridge needs to win just another €18,247 to join the Senior Tour millionaires’ club, having earned €981,753 in ten seasons. Cambridge would become the 14th member of the exclusive group after Englishman Bob Cameron passed the milestone in 2010.
English pair Jim Rhodes and Maurice Bembridge are also set to continue vying for the record number of Senior Tour appearances, with Rhodes currently having played 262 events compared to Bembridge’s 260.
A multitude of records were established in 2010 led by Ruangkit’s spectacular achievements. The Thai set a new mark for the largest winning margin when he finished 11 strokes clear of the field in the Chang Thailand Senior Masters presented by ISPS.
Ruangkit’s winning score of 21 under par (195) was also the record low 54 holes total to par in Senior Tour history.
South African John Bland broke his own record for the most number of years between first victory and latest when he won the Ryder Cup Wales Seniors Open 14 years and 262 days after his maiden triumph in the 1995 London Masters.
Other milestones which will be reached in the 20th Senior Tour season will be the 25th edition of The Senior Open Championship, which visits Walton Heath for the first time on the 30th anniversary of the English venue hosting the first Ryder Cup between a combined Europe and the United States.
One player who was part of that European Team in 1981 and who will return for The Senior Open from July 21-24 is Sandy Lyle, who the week prior to Walton Heath will return to Royal St George’s where he won The Open Championship 25 years ago.
Lyle, the current Senior Tour Order of Merit leader, has played in every Open Championship since 1977, two years before he won his first European Tour Order of Merit.
For the full historical Senior Tour facts and figures clickhere.
