Ahead of the final European event on the Staysure Tour, we take a look at ten statistics before the action gets under way at the Costa Blanca Benidorm Senior Masters.
First –visit to Spain for the Staysure Tour this season. The over-50’s circuit has teed off in 11 different countries and now heads to Benidorm, Spain, for its final European event of the season.
2012 – was the last time there was a Staysure Tour event on Spanish soil. Gary Wolstenholme won the Mallorca Open Senior in May before lifting the Benahavis Senior Masters three weeks later.
6,956 – the length, in yards, of the Levante Course at Meliá Villaitana Golf Club. The club has two 18-hole courses and the players will tee it up on the championship course, designed by Jack Nicklaus.
11 – Spaniards are set to tee it up in eastern Spain, including the 2018 Senior Open Presented by Rolex winner Miguel Ángel Jiménez and the Farmfoods European Senior Masters victor Santiago Luna.
Eight – winners from the 2018 Staysure Tour season will be in action in Benidorm, including two-time champion Gary Orr, who lifted the Scottish Senior Open and the Paris Legends Championship.
11 – former Ryder Cup players will take to the Levante Course at Meliá Villaitana Golf Club, including 2012’s ‘Miracle in Medinah’ captain Olazábal and Paul McGinley, who led Europe to victory at Gleneagles four years ago.
Two – Masters Tournament championships have been won by José María Olazábal, as he makes his Staysure Tour homecoming in Spain.
Four – Senior Major titles have been won by players in the Costa Blanca Benidorm Senior Masters field. Roger Chapman made history in 2012 when he became the first European to win both the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship and U.S. Senior Open in the same season.
Miguel Ángel Jiménez lifted his first Major title on the over-50’s circuit when he clinched the Regions Tradition in May, before claiming his second Senior Major two months later at The Senior Open Presented by Rolex.
67 – year old Victor Garcia, father to all-time leading Ryder Cup point scoring Sergio, will play at the sun-kissed Meliá Villaitana venue.
Three out of the five – Staysure Tour Qualifying School graduates will tee it up in Benidorm, following their rookie seasons on the over-50’s circuit. David Shacklady and Paul Streeter both lifted maiden titles after their success at the VTB Russian Open Golf Championship (Senior) and the Travis Perkins Masters respectively.
Rafael Gomez, who won the final stage of Qualifying School, has recorded five top ten results, including a runner-up finish in Italy.
