After watching his friend Chris Wood finally breakthrough on The European Tour in January, Englishman Andrew Sherborne will be aiming to follow suit when he begins his third campaign on the Senior Tour.
Sherborne and Wood have maintained a close relationship since their paths first crossed at Long Ashton Golf Club, in their native Bristol, and Sherborne was among those to congratulate the 25 year old following his victory in the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.
The pair measure among the tallest golfers in the professional ranks, with Sherborne at 6ft 4in joining Ross Drummond and Mike Harwood as the biggest players on the Senior Tour, while Wood, who is an inch taller, shares the same title on The European Tour with Swede Robert Karlsson.
Sherborne is now hoping that as well as having their height and Bristolian heritage in common, he can join Wood in the winners’ circle in 2013 and secure a maiden Senior Tour title.
Having won twice on The European Tour in the early 1990s, Sherborne enjoyed his own share of success during his top level career, and he is now looking to replicate that on the over 50s circuit after a solid start.
The 52 year old returned to competitive golf in 2011 after an eight year absence, recording two top ten finishes in his rookie season as he finished in 43rd position on the Order of Merit.
He built on that last year, starting the season with a seventh place finish in the Mallorca Open Senior and recording consecutive top five finishes in the Travis Perkins plc Senior Masters (fourth) in his homeland and the Pon Senior Open in Germany (tied fifth).
Those performances helped him to 23rd position on the 2012 Order of Merit and hinted at better times ahead for Sherborne, who won the 1991 Madrid Open and the 1992 Open de España on The European Tour.
“It was a bit more consistent last year,” he said. “I had a couple of decent weeks back-to-back at Woburn and Germany, which was nice being up there again and trying to win.
“I had a couple of bad weeks as well, but you are always going to have those. I would like to have done better in certain events. The biggest disappointments were certainly missing the cut in The Senior Open and the US Senior PGA Championship. They were the two big ones and I didn’t perform very well.
“I feel a lot happier about most of my game though. I have some specific things I want to improve in my long game, my short game and my putting. I know what the faults are, and hopefully with a bit of hard work I will be ready to go next year and can have an even better season.”
In an attempt to focus more on the areas of his own game needing attention, Sherborne has reduced his coaching commitments now he is back playing full time, which he feels will also benefit him in the season ahead.
“I am doing a bit of teaching in the close-season, but I am trying to cut down on that so I can concentrate on my own game,” said Sherborne. “It’s hard trying to do both. I’m not keen on teaching when I am playing because I’ll be telling someone to do something, then all of a sudden I will be out on the course and I will be thinking about what I have told them.
“Doing both confuses the issue. And it’s not relevant to you. Your mind gets side-tracked into all sorts of things, and that is probably another area I need to think about and become better at.”
