After jetting from Casablanca to the Caribbean for this week’s DGM Barbados Open, Scotland’s Sam Torrance will be hoping to live up to the famous old line, “Play it again, Sam” by winning the opening event of the European Seniors Tour season.
Torrance begins his defence of the European Seniors Tour Order of Merit by aiming to repeat his success of last weekend when he beat Raphaël Jacquelin of France in a play-off at the 34th Hassan II Golf Trophy in Morocco.
The former Ryder Cup Captain carded rounds of 70-67-69-75 at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Rabat to finish tied with Jacquelin on 11 under par 281.
Jacquelin had finished strongly with a 69 and the Frenchman looked to hold the momentum as the pair returned to the par five 18th. And when Torrance opted to lay-up with a five iron, Jacquelin saw his chance but only succeeded in pushing his rescue club approach to the right of the putting surface.
He then mishit his chip and could do no better than a five while Torrance holed from seven foot for birdie and his first victory since last September’s wire-to-wire triumph at the Bendinat London Senior Masters.
Portugal’s José-Felipe Lima and Santiago Luna of Spain, a three-time winner of the event, tied for third place on nine under par 283.
After being presented with his US$120,000 winner’s cheque, Torrance flew out from nearby Casablanca to Barbados where he will tee off at 12.10pm (BST) on Wednesday in the first round of the pro-am format DGM Barbados Open.
The venue for this year’s tournament is once again the breathtaking Royal Westmoreland Golf Club, where 45 professionals will contest a prize fund of US$250,000 and the first title of the year.
The 2005 event was won by Denis O’Sullivan of Ireland, who carded rounds of 68-68-70 for a winning three round aggregate of 206, ten under par. American John Grace was second on 209.
Torrance finished joint tenth but will be keen to make a bigger impact this time around as he stakes his first claim on retaining the John Jacobs Trophy.
“I was delighted to win my first Order of Merit last year,” commented the 52 year old. “It took me 35 years to become Number One but I would say it was worth the wait. It all came down to the last event and I played well in it. I really enjoyed it. It is nice to win again. One of the good things about hitting 50 is that you can win again.”
