Senior to feature in tournament

IN the golden era of Australian golf through the 1980s and 1990s, one could mention Peter Senior’s name in the same breath as a ‘The Great White Shark’ Greg Norman, Rodger Davis, Ian Baker-Finch, Wayne Grady, and Craig Parry.
The Australian golfers were among the leading contenders on the Professional Golf Association (PGA) circuit worldwide, avid followers of the game could count Senior, 63, among them – now this golfing legend is bound for the hallowed grounds of the Lae Golf Club.
Fast forward to 2022 and the veteran ace, four-time champion on the Australian Order of Merit, having played in 18 Majors on the PGA tour, including fourth place at the 1993 British Open, and you know this man can still bring game to Papua New Guinea.
Senior arrives to contest the PNG Seniors Open Tournament, part of the SParms PGA Legends Tour alongside an anticipated field of 36 professional golfers, among them two seasoned campaigners in Brad Burns and Chris ‘Buffy’ Taylor. The pair have carded spectacular results over the past two decades competing in PNG.
Queenslander Burns loves the Lae course and has many a fond memory including a superb 8-under par round setting a course record during the 2002 Morobe Open. It would be a further five years before Burns eventually claimed the mantle as champion in 2007.
Hervey Bay professional, Taylor set a course record equalling round of -7, 65 in Port Moresby during the 2008 PNG Open and eventually finished runner-up, his third time at the event. The Legends Tour event has received the blessing of the PNG Golf Association, sanctioning it to be hosted by one of the country’s toughest courses at the Lae Golf Club, in a three-day, 54-hole event with a minimum prize pool of A$80, 000 (about K192,000).
PNG Golf Association president Peter Del Monte said the event would be the first major golfing event of its kind in PNG for senior golfers and would rejuvenate much needed international flavour on the golfing calendar following a two-year dry spell brought on by the Coronavirus pandemic.
“Peter Senior is a huge icon of Australasian Golf in our region, and his acceptance to be a part of this event has certainly motivated a strong field of challengers.”