14 Australasians tackle Senior Open at Sunningdale
Steve Alker heads the large Australasian contingent – file image courtesy of USGA
The major championship in world golf season is drawing to a close, but two events remain with this week’s Men’s ISPS Handa Senior Open Championship and next week’s AIG Women’s Open still to come.
This week at Sunningdale in Berkshire, England, a field consisting of seven former Open Champions, five US Open Champions, five PGA Champions, and three Masters Champions, some of whom have won more than one, line-up for one of the more prestigious events on the over-50 calendar.
Making up the field of 144 players will be 14 Australasians, including, in alphabetical order, Steve Alker, Stephen Allan, Stuart Appleby, David Bransdon, Mark Brown, Michael Campbell, Greg Chalmers, Richard Green, Scott Hend, Mark Hensby, Michael Long, Rod Pampling, Cameron Percy and Michael Wright.
The event has been won only three times by Australasians since its inception in 1987, with Sir Bob Charles winning it twice and the late Ian Stanley winning it in 2001.
Steve Alker will likely again perform well given his stunning success on the PGA Tour Champions including a win and seven top-five finishes this season alone.
Victorian Stephen Allan has won twice on the PGA Tour Champions this season while US based Lismore golfer, Mark Hensby, might also be considered a player from this part of the world to watch this week given his great showing at the US Senior Open where he finished 4th behind Padraig Harrington.
Scott Hend currently leads the Legends (European Senior Tour) Tour’s Order of Merit while Mark Brown is one for one on the Legends Tour after his recent debut win in Switzerland.
