European Senior Tour announces 2017 schedule

The European Senior Tour has today announced its schedule for the forthcoming season, with three new events featuring on the 2017 calendar.

The English Senior Masters is the latest addition to the Senior Tour calendar, joining the European Tour Properties Senior Classic and Sharjah Senior Golf Masters presented by Shurooq as new events in 2017. Discussions are also at an advanced stage for a further new tournament, to be staged in northern Europe in October.

England’s Peter Baker, a member of Europe’s 1993 Ryder Cup side, will make his over-50s debut at the inaugural English Senior Masters at the Forest of Arden Marriott Hotel & Country Club from October 20-22. Forest of Arden was the site of Barry Lane’s emotional British Masters win in 2004 – the 1991 Ryder Cup player’s fifth European Tour victory.

Paul Broadhurst, the 2016 John Jacobs Trophy winner, will begin his Order of Merit title defence in the United Arab Emirates at the first edition of the Sharjah Senior Golf Masters presented by Shurooq, held at Sharjah Golf & Shooting Club.

The first edition of the European Tour Properties Senior Classic will be staged at Linna Golf, Finland, from June 21-23. Linna Golf was one of the first venues to join the European Tour Properties network more than ten years ago and hosted the European Challenge Tour in 2009.

The first Major Championship of the season, the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship will be held at Trump National Golf Club, Washington DC (May 25-28). Since 2012, the Championship has been won by a Senior Tour member on three occasions, with Roger Chapman triumphing in 2012 and Colin Montgomerie winning consecutive titles in 2014 and 2015.

The European Tour Properties Senior Classic starts a run of six events in seven weeks from June to August. It is followed by the U.S. Senior Open Championship (June 29-July 2), and the Senior Tour will then return to Switzerland and Germany for the Swiss Seniors Open and WINSTONgolf Senior Open from July 7-9 and July 14-16 respectively.

Royal Porthcawl Golf Club plays host to the Senior Open Championship Presented by Rolex for the second time since 2014, where Broadhurst will defend the title he won in superb fashion at Carnoustie last year.

The Welsh links bore witness to one of the most dominant performances in a Major Championship in history as Bernhard Langer took the 2014 title by a mammoth 13 strokes.

The Renaissance Club will host the Scottish Senior Open the week after the Senior Open Championship (August 4-6), and the Senior Tour returns to Hanbury Manor Marriott Hotel & Country Club for the second edition of the Willow Senior Golf Classic from August 25-27.

The Travis Perkins Masters will be played for the 17th time at Woburn Golf Club, with André Bossert defending his maiden Senior Tour title from September 1-3, followed by the Senior Italian Open presented by Villaverde Resort at Golf Club Udine from September 8-10.

A host of former Ryder Cup players will take to Le Golf National, host venue of The 2018 Ryder Cup, for the second edition of the Paris Legends Championship from September 28-30, exactly one year before the showdown between Europe and the United States.

The season will once again draw to a close in the spectacular Indian Ocean setting of Constance Belle Mare Plage for the ninth edition of the MCB Tour Championship from December 8-10.

David MacLaren, Head of the European Senior Tour, said: “The expansion of the European Senior Tour’s schedule has been our number one priority and I am delighted with the progress that we can announce with the release of the 2017 schedule.

“We are delighted to introduce the English Senior Masters, European Tour Properties Senior Classic and Sharjah Senior Golf Masters presented by Shurooq to the schedule, with the prospect of a fourth new tournament which will take us to a total of 16 events this year.

“In addition, the creation of a further new tournament, the Shipco Masters, to be staged in Denmark for the first time is 2018, confirms our positive and upward trajectory.

“We had identified that 2017 would be a transitional year for the Senior Tour, but I believe that we will accomplish far more than that this season. Some work still remains to complete this year but we must thank all of our promoters, sponsors, partners and players for their support.

“We look forward to seeing Paul Broadhurst begin his defence of the John Jacobs Trophy in March, and to also welcoming a number of new faces to the Senior Tour in 2017.”

Former Ryder Cup Captains Paul McGinley and José María Olazábal are in line to make their Senior Tour debuts this year, as are former Ryder Cup players Peter Baker and Jarmo Sandelin, as well as European Tour winners Gary Orr, Sven Strüver and Carl Suneson.