The Senior Tour swings back into action this week at the OKI Spanish Senior Open by Cleveland Golf / Srixon II, where Swede Anders Forsbrand will make his Senior Tour debut.
Following trips to Australia, Japan, Mauritius, Brunei and China, and then a two-month hiatus since March, the Seniors will be playing in Europe for the first time this season at El Valle Golf Resort in Murcia.
Forsbrand turned 50 on April 1, and will attempt to have the same kind of impact on the Senior Tour as he made on The European Tour 20 years ago. Back then he, Ove Sellberg and Mats Lanner were the pioneers of Swedish golf, paving the way for their countrymen to enjoy years of success.
He amassed six titles from 440 European Tour appearances spanning 22 years, and he is now looking forward to rekindling his competitive streak in Spain.
“On the Senior Tour you get reborn,” he said. “You have a second chance and it is great. I’m looking forward to it and it should be fun.
“The competitiveness has not left me. That’s the way I was born. I enjoy competing. Competing has been such a big part of my life and I’m looking forward to doing it again. Hopefully I can at a high level.
“When I stopped playing in 2003/2004 it was because I was playing too badly. I was driving the ball badly. My iron play was always good but I wasn’t competing. I thought I should just go home and be with my family and do some other things in life. I always thought if my body held up and I was in good shape, it was in the back of my mind to join the Senior Tour and hopefully have a chance of competing again.”
Another player still relatively new to the Senior ranks is Andrew Sherborne, who will be playing his second event this week following his debut in the ISPS Handa Senior World Championship presented by Mission Hills China in March, where he finished tied 16th.
Sherborne has good memories from Spain, the country where he won both his two European Tour titles – the 1991 Madrid Open and the Spanish Open a year later.
Spain is also a happy hunting ground for 2009 Order of Merit winner Sam Torrance, who has one Senior Tour and two European Tour victories there, and the Scot will be aiming to improve his current position of 26th in the money list.
The Spanish Senior Open will be the first appearance of the 2011 season for Gordon Brand Jnr, who missed the early section of the campaign as he spends the winter coaching in his home city of Bristol.
Many of the field will be using the event to hone their game before the season’s first Senior Major takes place the following week at the US Senior PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Kentucky, venue of The 2008 Ryder Cup.
Hopes of a home winner rest with a strong Spanish contingent of José Maria Cañizares, Antonio Garrido, Manuel Piñero, José Rivero, Domingo Hospital – the last Spaniard to win on the Senior Tour, at the 2010 Sicilian Senior Open – and Juan Quiros, a three-time European Tour winner.
