Sam Torrance will return to The European Tour for the Estoril Open de Portugal, and the 55 year old believes his game is in good enough shape to make him competitive.
Torrance - who has twice claimed the Senior Tour Order of Merit - was a back-to-back champion in this event in 1982 and 1983 and admits he is looking forward to the challenge on offer at Oitavos Dunes.
“There's a lot of gaps at the start of the Senior Tour and I won the Senior Tour Championship at the end of last year and it was almost three or four months before I played again,” explained the Scot.
“Then I finished sixth in Brunei and won in Barbados and there would be another six or seven week wait after Barbados so I looked at The European Tour Schedule when I got home and I thought I would try and get an invite. I've probably got delusions of grandeur but we shall see.”
Torrance successfully captained Europe to victory in The Ryder Cup at The Belfry in 2002, 17 years after holing the winning putt at the same venue.
He picked up 21 titles in an outstanding career on The European Tour and Torrance insists he can still be competitive.
“I'm pretty solid at the moment,” he said.
“I've worked on my swing at the end of last year, well the beginning of the year but didn't get it together until the end of the year.
“I've been playing three or four times a week at Sunningdale. It is a big year for me with the Senior Open at Sunningdale.”
Torrance has an unlikely practice partner at Sunningdale - former British tennis star Tim Henman.
“I've been playing a lot of golf with Tim Henman - he's very competitive from it and I've benefited from it in the first events of the year. He's off one.
“It might be delusions of grandeur but I'm looking forward to it. I'm playing well I know the course. It might not be a long course but it is like a seaside Sunningdale.
“There's a lot of class - difficult par threes. When we played the Senior Tour championship we had awful weather - I can't remember the tees not being all the way back. I probably played it competitively to its full extent so it shouldn't be a problem.
“The finishing holes are fantastic 14, 15, 16 are great holes then 17 and 18 are testing. 18 is really tough.”
Torrance added that he was delighted to see the progress former rival Seve Ballesteros was making recovering from surgery to remove a brain tumour.
“He's doing fantastic and I'm delighted to see him looking so well,” he continued.
“He looked a lot better than I was even hoping for which is great news. Sergio [Garcia] says he is doing well. He's been a great fighter all his life so let's hope he pulls through.”
