America’s Marco Dawson was the suprise winner of the 2015 Senior Open at Sunningdale – beating Bernhard Langer and Colin Montgomerie to claim the Claret Jug – the R&A has postponed July’s 2020 Senior Open but has not ruled out holding it later in the year

THE 2020 Senior Open at Sunningdale has been postponed due to the continuing threat posed by the spread of the coronavirus.

Europe’s only Senior Major Championship was scheduled to take place on the stunning Old Course at Sunningdale Golf Club, from July 23-25.

Johnnie Cole-Hamilton, an executive director at The R&A, said: “We have made the decision to postpone the Senior Open presented by Rolex following discussions with all stakeholders – and with public health and wellbeing the absolute priority.

“We will continue to investigate alternative options to host The Senior Open later in the year – if at all possible – and will make an announcement in due course.”

Sunningdale last hosted the championship in 2015 when American Marco Dawson claimed the trophy for the first time, ending Bernhard Langer’s hopes of a third Senior Claret Jug.

And it also denied Colin Montgomerie a first Senior Claret Jug, as Dawson produced two eagles in his final round as he reeled in Monty’s four-shot lead with nine holes to play.

Langer went on to win the title in 2017 at Royal Porthcawl, and Langer would have been the defending champion in August, after his two-shot victory over Paul Broadhurst at Royal Lytham, last summer.

The 62-year-old German has a record of 11 Senior Majors to his name as the 1985 Masters winner – the second European to win a Green Jacket at Augusta after Seve’s historic win in 1980 – continues to defy his age.

Langer spoke last month about how much he was looking forward to returning to the club on the Surrey-Berkshire border.

He said: “I am really looking forward to returning to Sunningdale Golf Club.

“I remember the battle I had with Marco and Colin a few years ago, so it will be good to go back and create new memories.

“To win The Senior Open means a great deal as it is one of the highlights of the year and it was a great feeling to lift The Senior Open trophy last season.

“There are new, younger stars taking part every year, making the event one of the toughest to win, and I expect much of the same this time.

“Sunningdale is a special course with a lot of history and I have been in the mix on the two occasions the championship has been held there – so it would mean a lot to perform well once again.”

Sunningdale also hosted the event in 2009 when Lauren Roberts – the Boss of the Moss – beat Fred Funk and Marc McNulty in a play-off on the famous heathland course.

The Old Course was designed by Willie Park Jnr and opened in 1901, with Harry Colt’s New Course opening in 1923.

Mark Aspland, head of the Staysure Tour, said: “The decision to postpone The Senior Open has been made in the best interests of everyone involved.

“Our priority is ensuring the health and safety of all players, spectators and sponsors, and it is therefore the right decision to postpone the event.

‘We will continue to work closely with The R&A, Rolex and other key stakeholders to reschedule the event at a later date when we have further clarity on the global situation.

“Our thoughts are with everyone right now as we continue the global fight against the spread of coronavirus.”

The decision came on Tuesday as the Cabinet – in the absence of Prime Minister Boris Johnson who is recovering at Chequers after spending three days in intensive care last week suffering from COVID-19 – was preparing to extend the current lockdown in the UK as it entered a fourth week.

Bernhard Langer was looking forward to a return to Sunningdale. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

Five Senior Majors in 2020 are off

ALL five Senior Majors of the season have either been called off or rearranged because of the coronavirus pandemic.

And the first three dates on the European Seniors Tour calendar have also been postponed.

The Murhof Legends – Austrian Senior Open due to be held at Golfclub Murhof, Frohnleiten, from May 14-16,was cancelled last month along with the Italian Senior Open at Argentario Golf Resort & Spa, in Porto Ecole, from May 23-31.

The French Senior Open – presented by Jean Van De Velde – which was set to be played at Golf d’Arras in Anzin-Saint-Aubin, is another casualty.

The KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship – due to be held at Harbor Shores Resort in Michigan’s Benton Harbor, from May 21-24, was the second Seniors Major of 2020 to be called off.

The PGA of America announced it was being cancelled on April 2 – a lockdown order in Michigan was in place until April 13, leaving the organisers not enough time to complete preparations.

PGA of America chief executive Seth Waugh said: “While we are incredibly disappointed, we all understand that protecting public health is the highest priority.

“We are especially disappointed for the Benton Harbor community, our friends at KitchenAid and the fans and volunteers who support this important championship so passionately.”

The Senior PGA will return to Harbor Shores in 2022, the PGA said when it announced the cancellation.

Next year’s Senior PGA Championship will take place at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma, from May 27-30.

US Senior Open at Newport CC moves to 2021

THE 41st US Senior Open – scheduled for Rhode Island’s Newport Country Club from June 25-28 – was cancelled last week.

The announcement came at the same time as the USGA’s decision to move the US Open back to September was taken, as well as calling off the third US Senior Women’s Open.

The men’s US Senior will now be played at Nebraska’s Omaha Country Club from July 8-11, in 2021.

“Canceling this year’s Senior Open championships was a very difficult decision to make,” said USGA chief exectuive Mike Davis.

“Not only are they important pillars of our championship schedule, but we also value our relationships with both Newport Country Club and Brooklawn Country Club, and were looking forward to staging incredible events there this summer.

“Given the ongoing health and safety issues related to COVID-19 and the significant consolidation of schedules into the back half of 2020, including the postponement of the US Women’s Open and US Open, we felt it necessary to make these unfortunate adjustments to our 2020 championship plans,” Davis added.

The only US Senior Open win for Bernhard Langer came at Sahalee Country Club, in Washington State, in 2010, when he finished three strokes ahead of Fred Couples.

The PGA Champions Tour had already cancelled or postponed four tournaments set to take place in the run up to the Senior PGA.

They included the Regions Tradition – the year’s first Seniors Major, which should have been played at Greystone G&CC in Birmingham, Alabama, from May 7-10.

It has been rescheduled for September 24-27.

The next PGA Tour Champions event on the schedule is the American Family Insurance Championship at Madison, Wisconsin, from June 5-7.

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Justin Rose will be lookng to join Faldo, Monty and Woosie, as only players to have won a regular European Tour event three years in a row. Picture by GETTY IMAGES

AS twice-defending champion, Justin Rose is bidding to join a list of European Tour greats as he returns to the Turkish Airlines Open.

If the North Hants GC member were to successfully defend his title for the second year in a row, Rose would join Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie and Ian Woosnam as the only players to achieve the feat of winning a non-Major or WGC event in three consecutive years.

The 2013 US Open Champion and 2016 Olympic Gold Medallist finished one stroke ahead of Nicolas Colsaerts and Dylan Frittelli in 2017, before defeating Li Haotong in a play-off last year to defend a title for the first time in his career.

Rose said: “You don’t get the opportunity to do that very often, so three-peat would clearly be a first for me.

“There’s a great list of players to maybe join on the European Tour, I believe it’s Monty, Faldo and Ian Woosnam – really illustrious company.

“Turkey has been a wonderful spot for me. I’ve been lucky to play well here every time I’ve been, going back to 2012.

“Played this venue in 2013, had my worst finish, third, so I need to step that up to keep my current record going.

“It’s an exciting week for me, obviously trying to go three in a row which is something I’ve never done in my career.

“I guess that’s the focus but also, you can never really approach a tournament that way,” Rose added.

“I’ve got to try and take care of business, make sure I’m prepared and get my game in good shape and then commit to the plan.

“I’m driving the ball quite well at the moment, probably my highlight of the game at the minute along with my putting.

“If I can get my mid-irons going – and maybe some five-woods and long irons into the par fives – and try to take advantage of them, obviously set up some low scoring.

“The weather is always perfect in Turkey, which generally leads to low scores.”

But, as the 2019 Race to Dubai nears its climax, Rose faces stiff competition at the Montgomerie Maxx Royal as the fight to become European No. 1 continues at the sixth Rolex Series event of the 2019 Race to Dubai season.

Rose will play alongside current Race to Dubai rankings leader Bernd Wiesberger and reigning Open Champion Shane Lowry, who sits in third on the rankings, for the first round.

Wiesberger, a winner of two Rolex Series events in 2019 after his return from a wrist injury – the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open and Italian Open – leads the standings by just over 300 points with just three events to play.

“It would be amazing to win the Race to Dubai, said Wiesberger. “It’s an unbelievable list of legends, and of European golf, and world golf, that’s on that list.

“To have the chance to put my name among them would be amazing. I’m looking forward to these next events, and we’re definitely going to give it our all.

“Jon and Shane are two and three still, but Rory had a great win last week and made up a lot of points.

“We are in good position going into the last events and looking forward to what’s ahead – and hopefully giving us a good look at some decent results in all three of them,” Wiesberger added.

The winner of the Turkish Airlines Open will receive 1,500 points, with the winners of the Nedbank Golf Challenge and DP World Tour Championship, Dubai receiving 1,665 and 2,000 points respectively.

•For live scoring from the Turkish Airlines Open click here.

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By EUROPEAN TOUR CHIEF EXECUTIVE KEITH PELLEY

Keith Pelley: “Our players are central to everything we do and they are the key ingredient in our recipe for success.”

TODAY marks an exciting new chapter in the history and the modern evolution of the European Tour as we unveil our new brand identity along with our new website and app.

More than a decade has elapsed since we last embarked on a brand refresh.

It is fair to say both golf and the European Tour have changed immensely in the interim, particularly over the past four years as we have strived to lead the transformation of global golf through our creative content, our commitment to innovation and our desire to break new ground.

Of course, that is not to say we do not also recognise and reflect our past.

Just as I have always said, innovative formats such as GolfSixes are necessary to appeal to modern audiences.

But 72-hole strokeplay, such as our Rolex Series tournaments, will always remain the core of our sport.

We are rightly proud of our history and we will continue to celebrate the tradition of the European Tour.

Six-time Major winner Sir Nick Faldo visiting the new meeting room at the European Tour’s Wentworth HQ, during last month’s BMW PGA Championship.

Only last week, during the BMW PGA Championship, Sir Nick Faldo, the six-time Major Champion and one of European Tour’s greatest players, visited our new-state-of-the art offices to see some of the changes we have made – including the construction of the Sir Nick Faldo Meeting Room, which showcases his considerable achievements in the game.

It is one of three meeting rooms we have created, alongside the Seve Ballesteros Room and the Colin Montgomerie Room – all named in honour of some of our true legends – while in our new-look boardroom, the latest technology is presided over by a powerful mural of our founding father John Jacobs.

Furthermore, our players will continue to compete for the Harry Vardon Trophy awarded to the person who wins our season-long Race to Dubai.

Our past, therefore, will continue to inform and shape our future. That will not change.

But it was, important, if not essential, that we revisited our brand, our aesthetic and our positioning to reflect more accurately what we are doing as a Tour right now.

The changing face of the European Tour in the 21st century

One of the key opportunities this affords us is the opportunity to engage better with our fans and with our partners.

We want to have a deeper relationship with both and I feel our new brand enables us to do that.

As a business, our focus has shifted in recent years from B2B (business to business) to B2C (business to consumer) through extending our ecosystem beyond traditional revenue sources, and the existing model of simply staging golf tournaments.

Our new logo is representative of this evolution.

It is more modern and more commercially friendly than before, with the ‘T’ more instantly recognisable and more flexible, giving us the ability to create greater brand identity.

Both our website and app have also been refreshed to allow us to showcase the incredible content that has become so synonymous with the European Tour over the last few years, as we have developed our unique tone of voice in this space.

Fittingly, we have reprised one of our most popular pieces of recent times, The Content Committee, to help celebrate today’s brand roll out.

Our players are, after all, central to everything we do and they are the key ingredient in our recipe for success.

It is their Tour and they, along with our partners,will help us drive golf further.

Today is yet another exciting step in that process.

The post European Tour chief Keith Pelley on thinking behind new branding and website appeared first on Golf North.

MICHAEL Campbell will make his first Staysure Tour appearance outside of a Senior Major when he tees it up at the Staysure PGA Seniors Championship, at London Golf Club, on Thursday.

The 2005 US Open champion – who finished two shots ahead of Tiger Woods at Pinehurst – turned 50 at the beginning of the year and will make his first regular Staysure Tour appearance this week.

Campbell last played a full European Tour season in 2013, with his last start coming at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship in January 2014.

During his break from the sport, the Kiwi was back home, spending time with his family, and with son Thomas on the bag this week, he is excited to be teeing it up in Kent.

Campbell said: “He’s pretty excited about this week and it’s his first time on the bag.

“Turning 50 and joining the senior ranks came at a perfect time for me. I spent over 20 years on Tour and needed a rest from playing and a chance to reconnect with my boys.

“My two sons were 12 and 15 when I stopped playing for a while, so it was nice to have a normal life.

“I would go to the groceries store and cook dinner and have a normal life,” said the player whose UK base while on Tour was in Brighton.

“I’d been an absent father over the years, spending so much time away from them, so those six years I made sure I was there, especially for things like watching them play sport.”

Now back playing competitive golf, the eight-time European Tour winner is eager to enjoy his time on the over-50s circuit after teeing it up in the Senior Majors earlier in the year.

“I’m excited to play,” said Campbell. “I’ve had a strange schedule this year, playing only three times at the three Senior Majors, so I’ve thrown myself into the deep end after not playing for six years.

“My game is slowly coming back and I just need to play more tournaments and being here at London Golf Club is great.

“The course looks great and having spoken to a few of the guys it will be a great test of golf, especially with the weather conditions this week.

“These guys on the over-50s circuit can play golf, that’s what I really noticed in the tournaments I’ve played this year.

“For me, it’s nice to be out here playing against these guys because when I wasn’t playing for six years, I really missed competing. It’s nice to get the competitive juices flowing again.

“One of the things I noticed about this Tour is that it’s more relaxed and not as intense as the European Tour, which is nice. It’s also nice to see all my friends again.

“I saw Bernhard Langer for the first time in six years, plus Retief, Monty, Vijay, because I grew up playing against these guys in the 1990s and early 2000s.

“It’s nice to be back on the same golf courses as these guys and back competing against them.”

Campbell will face a tough test if he is to succeed at the Staysure PGA Seniors Championship with last year’s winner Philip Golding, from Hertfordshire, hoping to defend his title.

And Colin Montgomerie, who set the course-record last year with a nine-under par opening round of 63, will be looking to clinch his 10th Staysure Tour victory.

The first round will begin at 7.45 am, with Campbell teeing off alongside Montgomerie at 9.05am.

Follow live scoring here.

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