The Staysure Tour heads to Germany this week for the WINSTONgolf Senior Open. To get you prepared, here are five key facts about the event:
1)Lucky number seven –this year will mark the seventh edition of the WINSTONgolf Senior Open. Australian Terry Price won the inaugural event in 2012. Scotland’s Gordon Brand Jnr took the second staging — holding off Andrew Oldcorn to win by one after his fellow countryman fired a sizzling final-round 61. Englishman Paul Wesselingh defeated compatriot Philip Golding and German golf icon Bernhard Langer on the third play-off hole to win in 2014. The next year, Spaniard Pedro Linhart kept his composure down the stretch to win after England’s Barry Lane carded a magical ten under par 62 on the final day. Oldcorn finally made good on the form he showed in Northern Germany a few years earlier — winning the 2016 WINSTONgolf Senior Open title in a play-off over current Staysure Tour Order of Merit Leader Paul Broadhurst. Most recently, Welshman Phillip Price overturned a three-shot deficit to claim his first-ever Staysure Tour victory.
2)Strong Alliance –the WINSTONgolf Senior Open marks the second-consecutive week of the popular Alliance format. In this ‘tournament-within-a-tournament’ each Staysure Tour professional will partner with an amateur teammate as they compete against the other two-player teams under the rules of Stableford scoring. The scoring system, which awards points rather than counts strokes, has long been praised as a fun alternative to aggregate scoring as it rewards players who take risks in their course management.
3)Two-in-a-row? –last week’s Swiss Seniors Open Champion, Jean-François Remesy will look to claim his second Staysure Tour trophy in as many weeks when he tees it up in Friday’s first round. The Frenchman was overcome with emotion after winning last week —attributing his success to a more intensive practice programme. Having earned his first title on the over-50s circuit, the three-time European Tour winner could turn the most recent shot of confidence into a summer of success.
4)The missing links –although not located in a traditional setting, the WINSTONlinks course, which opened in 2011, was designed to play as an ‘inland’ links course. It was voted Germany’s best course by Golf Magazine in 2015. Designed by David Krause, Wijnand Pon and his daughter, Fanja, commissioned the facility along with the associated Hotels and Spa, and have appointed Langer Sport Marketing, run by Erwin Langer, to manage Germany’s most elite over-50s golf tournament.
5)Ryder Cup Year –with less than 90 days to go until The 2018 Ryder Cup, everyone seems to be catching the fever as the excitement builds. With a total of 13 players who have represented Team Europe at The Ryder Cup in the field this week, including 2006 Team Captain and 1991 Masters Tournament Champion Ian Woosnam, 1989 European Number One Ronan Rafferty, and a host of others like Jean van de Velde, Costantino Rocca, Des Smyth and Peter Baker, there may be nowhere in the world this week with a collection of players who better understand the unique pressures of representing an entire continent.
