By Mathieu Wood
A new chapter awaits for Søren Kjeldsen. While the Dane may not have said his final goodbye to the DP World Tour at the Genesis Championship, he knows he has come to the end of an era.
More than a quarter of a century on from his debut on the DP World Tour in 1998, since when he has maintained his playing rights for a remarkable 26 consecutive seasons and won four times, a new future awaits.
With his 50th birthday approaching in May next year, Kjeldsen is readying himself for the transition to begin playing ‘seniors’ golf on both the Legends Tour and PGA TOUR Champions.
"It was tough playing the last hole but it has been great, everything comes to an end," he said after a closing one-under-par 71 in South Korea meant he would lose out on his full playing rights for next season.
"I am really looking forward to playing the seniors.
"I am playing well, but these [younger] guys hit it 30, 40, 50 past me so it is tough to compete. I look forward to playing with someone my age."
Diminutive in stature, his lofty place in the history books of the DP World Tour is assured.
It was only earlier this season that he became just the fourth player to make 700 or more appearances, emulating David Howell, Miguel Angel Jiménez and Sam Torrance.
On Sunday, he finished what was his 712th start on the DP World Tour - only Howell (725) and Angel Jiménez (723) have played more.
And while 2024 is his last full campaign on the DP World Tour, more starts are likely to follow. He isn’t about to miss out on any opportunity to play on home soil at the Danish Golf Championship for starters.
But life playing week-in-week-out around the world on the formerly named European Tour is at an end.
The first of Kjeldsen’s DP World Tour titles came at the 2003 Diageo Championship at Gleneagles, and he followed that with a wire-to-wire victory at the final edition of the Volvo Masters in 2008 at Valderrama.
Further success in Spain followed at the 2009 Open de Andalucía de Golf, with his fourth and biggest victory coming at Royal County Down in the 2015 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open hosted by the Rory Foundation, defeating Eddie Pepperell and Bernd Wiesberger in a play-off.
Across his career, he has also competed at all four Majors, recording top tens in three of them, played on the PGA TOUR with a full card and won the World Cup of Golf with Thorbjørn Olesen in 2016, which he cited as the highlight.
So, with that in mind, Kjeldsen was understandably in reflective mood when he spoke to television golf reporter Tim Barter at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea.
"When you ask guys, majors are obviously the highest [point of careers], but Ryder Cups are maybe even higher because it is a team event [so] winning the World Cup with Thorbjørn was pretty special," he reflected on his achievements in the game.
While Soren might be switching his focus, could there be another Kjeldsen soon out on Tour?
His sons Emil, 21, and Mads, 18, are trying to follow in their father's footsteps with the former having played alongside his dad earlier this year on the Next Golf Tour, a professional golf tour played on Trackman simulators.
"They love it [golf], which is the main thing," he said. "Obviously I encourage them. I think it is the greatest game of all.
"We will see, but they are doing really good."
