Colin Montgomerie heads to Oak Tree Golf Club this week looking to add Major number two to his resumé at the US Senior Open in Oklahoma.
His four shot victory over US Ryder Cup Captain Tom Watson back in May was a watershed moment for the Scot after so many near misses throughout his career on golf’s grandest stages.
That US Senior PGA Championship title has Montgomerie looking down on the rest as number one on the Senior Tour Order of Merit.
Headlining the European charge across the Atlantic, alongside the 31 time European Tour winner, will be former Ryder Cup teammate, playing partner and fellow captain – Bernhard Langer – who himself has tasted Major success this season in America.
The German won the Constellation SENIOR PLAYERS Championship last time out, which only counts on the Champions Tour but has the 56 year old at the top of their Money List.
Two years ago Roger Chapman claimed his second Major title in as many months when he won the US Senior Open, and he returns this year looking to repeat the feat and find the form that saw him claim the John Jacobs Trophy that year.
Last season’s Senior Tour Number One, Paul Wesselingh, is also in the field this week as he looks to carry his form of 2013 onto the Major stage. The Englishman won four times last year, and will want to improve on his best Major finish in America, which is currently a tie for 21stplace at the 2012 US Senior PGA Championship.
Steen Tinning already has a second place to his name this season, which came at the ISPS HANDA PGA Seniors Championship, and he will tee it up for only the third time this week in an over-50s Major, having finished in a tie for 26th at last season’s Senior Open Championship presented by Rolex.
Kenny Perry won this title a year ago and returns to defend in Oklahoma. He will feature alongside a strong American line-up at Oak Tree, with the likes of Jay Haas, Jeff Sluman and Scott Verplank having all won on this course.
Haas won the US Senior PGA Championship here in 2006, while Verplank, who makes his tournament debut this week and lives nearby, triumphed in the 1984 US Amateur Championship at Oak Tree.
Sluman also has fond memories of this venue, after his two stroke victory over Paul Azinger in the 1988 US PGA Championship.
Three-time Major Champion Vijay Singh will also make his US Senior Open debut this week in Oklahoma, as will two-time Senior Tour winner Simon Brown, and last season’s Speedy Services Wales Senior Open winner, Philip Golding.
