Royal Portrush will provide great incentive, says O’Sullivan

THE selection of Royal Portrush as the venue for the British Seniors Open this season was described as a “great incentive” by Denis O’Sullivan, the Irishman who finished eighth on the European Seniors Tour last season.

“It is a great course and very popular with the Irish professionals” he said. “It would be great if it helped produce an Irish champion.”

O’Sullivan, who is 55 and a member of Cork GC, has been six years on tour. He finished in the top ten in the order of merit four times and his highest finish was third.

He finished second in four events last season, most notably in the European Matchplay Championship in Los Flamingos, Spain, in October. The event attracted a lot of media attention and was featured on Sky Sports.

O’Sullivan was second to England’s Carl Mason in the final when he lost by the narrowest of margins. An uncharacteristic bogey on the final hole was his undoing.

O’Sullivan travelled last week to Marbella, Spain, to prepare for the new season. He will practise over the next three weeks on the La Quinta and San Roque courses.

“I am friendly with Manuel Pinero who is the pro at La Quinta” he said. “And Manuel Ballesteros is in charge at San Roque and I played golf with him regularly up to a couple of years ago. It is a beautiful part of the world for golf courses and I intend doing a lot of work.” The European Seniors Tour has grown dramatically during O’Sullivan’s time and he predicted it was set for continued growth

“The Welsh Open is worth half-a-million pounds in prize-money,” he said, “and the British Open will be worth one million this year.”

It is, of course, only a pale shadow of the American Seniors Tour in prize-money and number of events and O’Sullivan explained: “What is holding the European tour back is the fact that players like Des Smyth, for instance, are playing in America. This is not a criticism mind, Des has had a phenomenal season in America and good luck to him. It is so attractive that players like Mark McNulty, Sam Torrance and Mark James are qualified this year and they are going to America.

“The European Tour needs those guys, but I expect big changes in the next few years when you have players like Faldo, Lyle, Woosnam, Seve and Langer qualifying. They are all about 47 and while it will be too late for me, it will be good for the Tour if they play in Europe.”

The European Seniors Tour this season will start, as usual, in Tobago in March. April is a free month before they swing into regular action in May starting with events in Italy and Jamaica.

O’Sullivan is hoping to improve on last season’s record prize-money with several obvious highlights, most notably the British Open at Royal Portrush.

He also plans a visit to the USA. “The top eight in the Order of Merit receive invitations from the US PGA for selected events” he said. “I intend to play in one of their majors in Valhalla, Kentucky, against all the big names and they will all be involved as well in Royal Portrush. I have a lot to look forward to.”