Magnus P Atlevi, the 2016 European Senior Tour Rookie of the Year, will strive for further success in 2017 as he aims to pick up where he left off after last season’s second place finish on the Order of Merit.
The Swede successfully earned his card at Qualifying School Final Stage in 2016, and accrued earnings of €211,557 throughout the rest of the year, securing the runner-up spot in the Rankings behind John Jacobs Trophy winner Paul Broadhurst.
Despite his superb rookie season on the Senior Tour, Atlevi is determined not to get ahead of himself as the 2017 season begins this week at the Sharjah Senior Golf Masters presented by Shurooq in the United Arab Emirates.
“Last year hasn’t sunk in yet,” he said. “But that’s fine. The way I approached last year worked pretty well and I’m keen to carry on that way. Maybe, in a couple of years’ time, I’ll realise what I achieved.
“It was great to finish second, but I need a few more years like those because I don’t have the record on the European Tour that a lot of these guys have.
“When I started my career, one of the mistakes I made was that I was easily satisfied. When you get there, it’s hard to continue improving.
“You need to take a step back, reassess and make sure you stay hungry. The key is to set new goals to ensure that you’re never satisfied. I’m going to be hungry until I can’t play this game anymore.”
Atlevi secured his maiden Senior Tour title last year at the Paris Legends Championship held at Le Golf National, host venue of The 2018 Ryder Cup, a milestone which the 52 year old was pleased to have achieved.
“They say the first one is the hardest,” he said. “Now I know that winning is something that I need to get used to, Des Smyth told me that I need to learn how to win regularly, so it’s good that I have my first title in the bag already.
“Before last year, I really didn’t know if I was good enough because I had such a long break. My last full season on the European Tour was in 1991, you just don’t know how good you are after such a long time.
“Knowing that I’m good enough to be here is the main thing, it gives me confidence.
“I know the story in the media is that I came second last year, but I prefer to look at my average score across the season rather than my final Order of Merit position.
“My average score was -1.4 below par, and I want to improve on that. If I improved to -2, but finished tenth in the Order of Merit, I would still be really pleased with that."
