Phil Archer will aim to produce his own version of the magnificent seven in south west France this week as he guns for glory in the ALLIANZ Golf Open Grand Toulouse.
Despite being, at 39, one of the elder statesmen on the European Challenge Tour, the Englishman still retains a keen appetite for the game as he will prove at Golf de Toulouse-Seilh in his seventh tournament outing on the spin.
Currently in 30th position in the Challenge Tour Rankings, Archer is targeting a top 20 finish at the end of the year which would guarantee a return to The European Tour where he played for six consecutive seasons between 2005 and 2010.
A win in this, the fifth last counting event of the season, would go a long way to securing that and it would also complete a neat ALLIANZ double, the Englishman having won the ALLIANZ Open Cotes d’Armor Bretagne tournament in June.
“That was a big win for me because, at that time, my ranking was poor and I wouldn’t have got into these last events if it hadn’t been for that,” said Archer who, along with wife Deborah, has also had to juggle the arrival of their two children – Jack and Hallie – in the last 23 months.
“Being 30th in the rankings is okay but it’s a bit of a gap to where I want to be but that can be turned around in one week out here so that is what I have got to try and look at. I’m playing this week, then taking a one week break, before pushing on to the end of the season.”
Archer’s best season on The European Tour was in 2007 where he finished second on three occasions and also helped Great Britain and Ireland retain The Seve Trophy. He admitted such success has given him added impetus to return to the big time.
“I think your expectations are higher because I know my abilities and I know what I can do,” he said. “I have age and experience on my side and hopefully that will help me in the run-in but I am still learning about the game and the mental side of the game too. You are never too old to stop learning.”
Should Archer triumph this week, it would complete an excellent September for English golfers on the European Challenge Tour with Tommy Fleetwood having won the Kazakhstan Open to move to the top of the Rankings, and Sam Little having triumphed last week in the M2M Russian Challenge Cup to move to sixth.
