Barry Lane returns to Constance Belle Mare Plage for the 2012 MCB Tour Championship from December 7-9 facing another end of season battle on the European Senior Tour Order of Merit.
Last year the Englishman teed it up in Mauritius just €25,569 behind Peter Fowler in the race for the John Jacobs Trophy, which Fowler went on to win after finishing in seventh place, two strokes lower than Lane.
But with double-Senior Major winner Roger Chapman having already secured the John Jacobs Trophy this year, Lane is the one who finds his position under threat this time round, with Tim Thelen breathing down his neck.
Lane, winner of the Speedy Services Wales Senior Open, is currently €8,157 ahead of the American in second place on the Order of Merit, following Thelen’s third victory of the season in the Fubon Senior Open at the weekend.
The five-time European Tour winner will be looking to consolidate his position as he attempts to finish runner up on the Order of Merit for a second consecutive year.
Australian Fowler is a further €51,048 back in fourth place having made an admirable defence of the John Jacobs Trophy he secured in Mauritius last year.
The trio join Chapman in the field for the final event of the 2012 Senior Tour campaign, when American Tom Lehman defends his title.
Like last year, Lehman will head to Constance Belle Mare Plage on the back of winning the Charles Schwab Cup, becoming the first player to do so in consecutive years.
The 2006 US Ryder Cup Captain finished one shot clear of South African David Frost last year, carding rounds of 65, 68 and 71 over the Legends Course.
Englishman Paul Wesselingh will also confirm his position as 2012 Rookie of the Year following his fifth place finish in Taiwan last week. The battle is all the more interesting in that Wesselingh is closing in on fourth position on the Order of Merit and if he can overhaul Fowler – who currently lies in that place – it would earn him automatic entry into next year’s US Senior Open.
Access to another Major is at stake as the season reaches its finale in Mauritius – the top 18 on the Order of Merit all qualify for the US Senior PGA Championship and will have the opportunity to depose reigning champion Chapman at Bellerive Country Club in St.Louis, Missouri from May 23-26, 2013.
