The Willow Senior Golf Classic kick-starts a run of three European Senior Tour events in a row. Here we take a look at five golfers to watch at Hanbury Manor Mariott Hotel & Country Club this week…
Magnus P Atlevi
The 2016 Senior Tour Rookie of the Year hit a real run of form in July which he carried into The Senior Open Presented by Rolex and Scottish Senior Open.
The Swede has the lowest stroke average of the 54-man field this season – 70.13 across 27 rounds – and has finished inside the top ten in three of his last four starts.
With consecutive tied sixth finishes at Royal Porthcawl and then Renaissance Club, Atlevi will be hoping to add to his Paris Legends Championship victory from last season with a win at Hanbury Manor.
Clark Dennis
The American has been one of the stand-out players of the season despite only making his Senior Tour debut in Sharjah earlier this year.
Dennis has notched up three top-five finishes in regular events in 2017, with his best result coming at the Swiss Seniors Open where he finished in a share of third place.
The Texan finished just outside the top 30 at The Senior Open at Royal Porthcawl before illness saw him finish outside the top 40 in Scotland the following week. Back to full health and firing on all cylinders, expect Dennis to be at the right end of the leaderboard once again.
Mark Mouland
Despite having to pull out of the WINSTONgolf Senior Open with a back injury, Mark Mouland shows no signs of slowing down this season. He finished tied for sixth at the inaugural European Tour Properties Senior Classic and then claimed a share of third place at the Swiss Seniors Open.
Determined not to miss The Senior Open on home soil, Mouland made the weekend after opening rounds of 73-76 in treacherous conditions and then finished tied 31stat Royal Porthcawl.
The following week in Scotland he fired a second round of 65 to move into contention, then went on to take a share of eighth place.
Gary Orr
One of the latest members to join the European Senior Tour, Gary Orr has enjoyed a strong start to life on the over-50s circuit. He has finished no lower than 11thin regular events and also made the cut at The Senior Open.
He finished tied ninth on his debut in Finland, following that up with tied 11thand tied 10thfinishes in Switzerland and Germany.
His best result of the season so far came on home soil when he finished in a share of third place at the Scottish Senior Open.
Despite looking out of the race after his first round of 75, four over par, he recovered with a superb second round 67 and then set a new course at Renaissance Club with an eight under par 63.
Chris Williams
After finishing outside the top 15 on the Order of Merit for the last four seasons, Chris Williams is enjoying a resurgence on the European Senior Tour in 2017.
The South African started the year with victory at the Sharjah Senior Golf Masters presented by Shurooq and has added tied third, solo fourth and tied 11thfinishes to his tally this year.
The 59 year old is consistently going low, carding par or better scores in regular events in his last nine rounds.
A tied third finish in Scotland earlier this month shows that he has the game to be challenging for silverware – and the man known as ‘The Ginger Cat’ will be looking to claw his way up the rankings with more top performances.
