The 2016 European Senior Tour season comes to a close at the sixth edition of the MCB Tour Championship in Mauritius. With 31 European Tour winners and 34 Senior Tour champions in the 48-man field, the season-ending tournament is sure to be hotly contested. Here, we take a look at five to watch at Constance Belle Mare Plage, a European Tour Destination.
Colin Montgomerie
The 2010 Ryder Cup Captain returns to Mauritius to defend his MCB Tour Championship title. An eight-time European Number One, Montgomerie brought his winning mentality to the Senior Tour and is the twice-defending John Jacobs Trophy holder after topping the money list in 2014 and 2015.
Although he will see the John Jacobs Trophy handed over to fellow Ryder Cup player Paul Broadhurst at the end of the weekend, Montgomerie will be doing all he can to retain the MCB Tour Championship. Last year, the Scot won by three strokes from South Africa’s David Frost and also secured the Senior Tour Shot of the Year award with a hole-in-one on the par three 17th.
Paul Broadhurst
After joining the Senior Tour last year, Paul Broadhurst has made an immediate impact. He took home the 2015 Prostate Cancer UK Scottish Senior Open title in his debut event and then secured the Senior Claret Jug in stunning fashion at this year’s Senior Open Championship Presented by Rolex. His victory at Carnoustie put him in pole position for the John Jacobs Trophy and he arrives in Mauritius with the title already secured.
He opened the Senior Tour season with a tied-second finish at the SSE Enterprise Wales Senior Open and again finished runner-up, after consecutive tied-eighth results, at the WINSTONgolf Senior Open before his two-stroke victory at the Senior Open Championship.
David Frost
If you were to ask anyone what it takes to win in Mauritius, you’d need to look no further than David Frost. The South African has played the MCB Tour Championship every year since 2009 and has won the tournament twice. In those seven years, he has finished lower than third on just one occasion.
Cape Town-born Frost has enjoyed a steady season on the PGA TOUR Champions circuit, making it to the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, the final event of the year in the United States. He also finished no lower than tied 14th at the three Senior Major Championships, his best finish coming at the US Senior PGA Championship Presented by KitchenAid where he took a share of seventh place.
Phillip Price
Another former Ryder Cup player, Price was one of the stars of the 2002 European side which regained the coveted trophy at The Belfry. Price secured a priceless point for Europe as he beat then-World Number Two Phil Mickelson 3&2 in the Sunday singles.
Price turned 50 on the day of the first round of the Senior Italian Open Presented by Villaverde Resort and made an immediate impression as he finished second behind compatriot Stephen Dodd. A three-time winner on the European Tour, Price will hope to go one better in Mauritius in his bid to become the eighth first-time winner this season.
André Bossert
Winner of the Travis Perkins Masters earlier this year, André Bossert became the eighth player to win on the European Challenge Tour, European Tour and Senior Tour. He followed up his victory at Woburn with a top-ten finish at the inaugural Paris Legends Championship on the testing L’Albatros course, and then finished in a share for third place at the Senior Italian Open.
He is on course for a career-high finish on the Senior Tour money list and will secure a spot in next year’s US Senior Open should he finish inside the top six on the Order of Merit.
