By John Strege
This PGA Tour Champions season, though early, is shaping up as one for the ageless, led by a pair of graybeards who seem to have matured better than the fine red wines they enjoy.

On this Sunday, it was Miguel Angel Jimenez’s turn. Again. Jimenez, 58, won the Cologuard Classic at Omni Tucson National on Sunday and sealed the victory in style, with his second hole-in-one in three days.

It was Jimenez’ second victory in this the third PGA Tour Champions event of the year. The one week he failed to win, Bernhard Langer, 64, did. Langer, who closed with a seven-under 65, tied with Woody Austin for second, four strokes back of Jimenez.

Jimenez’s ace came on the 14th hole with a 6-iron, leaving the popular Spaniard with a five-shot lead and a four-hole victory lap, cigar smoke trailing him most of the way, en route to his 12th senior tour win.

? MIGUEL DOES IT AGAIN ?

His second ace of @CologuardGolf to extend lead. pic.twitter.com/jTbT0bTSTO

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) February 27, 2022

“I got about 178 yards to the hole,” he said of the ace. “A little bit breezy to the right. I hit a beautiful tee shot there.”

Jimenez was a wire-to-wire winner, closing with a seven-under par 65 and a 54-hole total of 18-under par 198.

On Friday, Jimenez used the same 6-iron to ace the 196-yard seventh hole. The holes-in-one were the 12th and 13th of his competitive career, 10 of them coming on the European Tour and one on the renowned 17th hole at the TPC Sawgrass in the Players Championship.

Langer, meanwhile, continues to defy his age. He played a bogey-free round that on another day might have been good enough for senior win No. 44.

“It was great,” he said. “Played pretty good. Sixty-five on Sunday, seven under, is always special. Almost shot my age. Just Jimenez was too good this week. He’s had a nice lead going into today and he’s on fire again. He’s a great player and we were basically battling it out for second between Woody Austin and myself.”

The post Miguel Angel Jimenez’s second ace of the tournament cinches second victory of the season appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Stenson will tee it up for the 20th successive time at Emirates Golf Club in what will be the 32nd edition of the Desert Classic from Jan. 28-31.

“It’s amazing to think that the UAE is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and that I lived in Dubai for almost 10 of those years,” said Stenson. “It’s always great to be back in Dubai. Emma and I got married here in 2006, and it still feels very much like home.

“I have had a lot of success in the region – I’ve won the OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic at Emirates Golf Club, the DP World Tour Championship and also in Qatar, so I feel comfortable out here.”

RELATED: Ten Major champs poised for OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic

The 44-year-old has a stellar record in the Desert Classic, winning the 2007 edition with a birdie on the 18th to edge out Ernie Els by one stroke with Tiger Woods third, in addition to seven other top-ten finishes.

“I think I have probably played more rounds on the Majlis than anywhere else on Tour, so in terms of tournament preparation, I will base it mostly on getting used to the conditions that the course is in, because I know the layout better than most,” said Stenson.

“The Majlis is one of those courses that I never get bored of and always enjoy playing. Hopefully my knowledge of it will turn into an advantage this year.”

Joining Stenson is a raft of past winners also returning to the event, including Miguel Angel Jimenez, Haotong Li, Stephen Gallacher, Thomas Bjørn, Alvaro Quiros, recent major champions and former winners Sergio Garcia and Danny Willett, as well as three-time winner Ernie Els and defending champion Lucas Herbert.

Jimenez made his first outing at Emirates Golf Club in 1990 and will be teeing it up at the event for the 27th time, with his victory coming in 2010 after a play-off win over Lee Westwood.

Miguel Angel Jimenez

The Spaniard made four Ryder Cup appearances in his career and was twice a Vice Captain in 2012 and 2014. He holds many European Tour records, including the highest number of starts (710) and he has made 10 holes-in-one on Tour, breaking the record previously held by Colin Montgomerie.

“I love coming back to Dubai every year and this tournament has a special place in my heart,” said Jimenez. “It has always been a great place to play golf and as the first event the European Tour held in the region, the OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic is one of the most important to the players.”

Scotland’s Gallacher remains the only player in tournament history to have won the title in back-to-back years have triumphed in 2013-14.

Stephen Gallacher

“I love coming back to this event because the Majlis is a course I know I can play well on,” said Gallacher. “Any time you come to a venue where you have won before gives you confidence – and that, in addition to the slight breeze you often get and the humidity, makes me feel comfortable.

“Winning the OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic twice in a row is certainly one of the highlights of my career so far and I’d love to add a third.”

RELATED: Wilco Nienaber is bringing his ‘nuke’ powered driver to the Desert Classic

China’s Li, who became the first Asian player to win the title in 2018 with a one-stroke win over Rory McIlroy, is also keen to immerse himself in the familiar sights and sounds of Emirates Golf Club once again.

“This is a special event on the European Tour and one I always look forward to playing,” said Li. “I have great memories of winning three years ago and it would be nice to make more memories this year.”

Haotong Li

An elite field has been assembled at Emirates Golf Club including Major champions Justin Rose, Collin Morikawa, Shane Lowry, Graeme McDowell, Ernie Els, Martin Kaymer and Padraig Harrington, and countless Ryder Cup stars including Lee Westwood, Tommy Fleetwood, Ian Poulter, Tyrrell Hatton, Paul Casey, Rafa Cabrera Bello and Matthew Fitzpatrick, all set to vie for the Dallah trophy.

In what is the 32nd staging of the tournament, attendance will be for invited guests only, but the action will be beamed to a worldwide audience on mainstream broadcast sports networks, and highlights and exclusive content will be shared on the OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic social media channels.

RELATED: Paul Casey set for Majlis return as second wave of Desert Classic player confirmations unveiled

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By John Strege
Jerry Kelly is a man without a poker face who nonetheless took down his challengers with an ace that no one saw coming on Sunday afternoon.

Kelly, his lead slipping away, won the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship by virtue of a hole-in-one on the 177-yard 12th hole at the South course at Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio.

With a single swing, Kelly’s one-stroke lead became three, then four when playing partner Scott Parel bogeyed the 13th hole. From there it was little more than a formality before he could begin to celebrate his seventh PGA Tour Champions victory and the first major championship of his career.

He beat Parel by two, earning $450,000 and an exemption to the PGA Tour’s Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass next spring.

A @jerrykelly13pga ACE!!

The @BridgestoneSP leader aces No. 12 and stretches his lead to 3. pic.twitter.com/foy01TQHB8

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) August 16, 2020

“I love that idea, the Players Championship,” Kelly said. “I can’t wait to go back there. And just to have a major out here is pretty huge for me. Never getting one, not even getting that close on the regular tour, it feels great.”

Kelly, 53, is an animated player whose demeanour takes any guesswork out of how every shot’s result while it’s in the air. That special highlight on the 12th hole was no exception.

“Come on,” he shouted, easily heard over the absence of a din with no fans permitted on the premises.

Only moments before, Kelly had bogeyed the 11th hole to see his lead cut to one. Then on the next tee, he changed clubs.

“I know the wind switched,” he said. “It was going in and left to right and now it’s in and right to left. I was able to take some off it and cut a little 5-iron instead of a 6- and starting it over the bunker. It made me a little happier.”

Kelly won with a final round of one-under-par 69 on a familiar course for PGA Tour veterans, and one that over four rounds played up to its major championship pedigree. His aggregate score was three-under 277 on a course that has hosted three PGA Championships as well as 20 World Golf Championship events.

Parel was the only other player to finish under par (one under) after completing a round of even-par 70.

Parel, who never played the PGA Tour but has won three times on the PGA Tour Champions, began the final round trailing Kelly by a stroke. Parel briefly tied for the lead at the outset and again trailed by one after three holes, when inclement weather caused a two-hour, 15-minute delay.

By then, it basically was only a two-man competition, and it remained tight until Kelly’s tee shot on 12, struck on a perfect line, hitting about eight feet short of the hole and rolling out and into the cup.

Colin Montgomerie, who began the final round tied for second, shot a one-over 71 and tied for third with Miguel Angel Jimenez, who closed with a 69.

The post Jerry Kelly punctuates his first senior major victory with a special highlight appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Huggan
Just about the only thing missing from the appropriately sun-kissed scene was a celebratory cigar in the mouth of the man center-stage. But walking towards the 18th green at First of Arden, Miguel Angel Jimenez was all smiles. And why not? He was already eight under par for the first round of the Hero Open, which is doubling as his record-breaking 707th European Tour event. But that score surely didn’t really matter to the maybe 30-strong group of his fellow players gathered to the right of the putting surface on the 211-yard par 3. The popular figure they came to salute could have been eight over for all they cared.

Indeed, it was clearly a touching moment for the man himself. Jimenez was openly moved by the gesture from what was a telling mix of young and old by the green. Speaking of which, immediately after two-putting for a closing par that left him with an opening-round 64, two shots off the lead held by his compatriot, Sebastian Rodriguez Garcia, the 56-year-old Spaniard was greeted by the face and voice of Sam Torrance via FaceTime. It was the 66-year-old former Ryder Cup captain’s record for most appearances on the European Tour that Jimenez was breaking. Long-standing pals, the pair shared a jovial and mutually appreciative few minutes over a socially distant glass of red.

Miguel's fellow professionals surround the 18th green to welcome him home.

707 events. 1 legend @majimenez1964
#Miguel707 ? pic.twitter.com/HuH8fV2kdm

— DP World Tour (@DPWorldTour) July 30, 2020

“It’s been a wonderful day, eight under par,” said Jimenez, whose most recent win on the European Tour came at the 2014 Spanish Open. “A beautiful summer day, and especially on the 18th green with all my colleagues. It’s made me feel a little bit emotional inside. I appreciate that very much. Some of them are new players. Others I have known for many years. It was really nice.”

There was time, too, for a more philosophical analysis that went beyond a round in which Jimenez made eight birdies and 10 pars. The more than three decades spent accumulating so many appearances on the Old World circuit—what European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley called a “monumental achievement” thanks to Jimenez’s “enduring passion for our game”—was also occupying his thoughts.

“I felt very emotional,” continued Jimenez, who has sprinkled 21 victories and 162 top-10 finishes among his 707 starts. “I cannot describe my day, you have to be inside my skin. I enjoy everything about my life here. It’s not the first time I’ve said it, this is a way of living. Golf is my life, you never remember any bad moments. You can understand that you’re not going to be in a perfect mood and not make a perfect score every time. You can have a bad game, but not a bad day, that’s the difference.”

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By John Huggan
With two of the top 100 golfers in the world—Eddie Pepperell and Joost Luiten—in attendance, this week’s Hero Open is a long way from boasting the strongest field in European Tour history. But for at least two of the 132 competitors at the Forest of Arden in the English Midlands the €1 million event is going to be a special occasion, no matter how well or badly each performs.

Miguel Angel Jimenez will be making his 707th European Tour start, breaking the long-standing record of former Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance. As a measure of the 56-year-old Spaniard’s admirable longevity, just 12 men have made more than 600 appearances, never mind 700. Jimenez has maintained a remarkable level of competitiveness, too. Six years on from becoming the oldest European Tour winner (50 years and 133 days) at the 2014 Open de España, Jimenez led at the halfway mark of the Austrian Open just two weeks ago.

That David Drysdale is making his 500th Euro Tour start this week isn’t quite so notable—he is the 43rd player to reach that mark—except that 45-year-old Scot is also closing in on one of the Old World circuit’s more esoteric “achievements.” All those starts have come without a victory yet. Only Malcolm Mackenzie can boast a similar level of commendable but ultimately unfulfilled perseverance. Hope remains, however, for Drysdale considering that Mackenzie did eventually get over the finishing line first. The Englishman picked up his lone tour victory, the 2002 French Open, at his 509th attempt. So Drysdale, who has four second-places, 34 top 10s and 284 cuts made in-so-far 499 goes at breaking his winless streak, has at most nine more tries before he “beats” Mackenzie’s “record.”

As ever, Jimenez is approaching his record-setting week with the air of someone about to embark on the most pleasurable few days imaginable. We can take it as read that his famously eccentric stretching routine will be part of his pre-round warm-up; that he will be puffing on a large cigar out on the course; and that at least a glass or two of his favoured Rioja will disappear down his throat each evening.

“He’s an icon, isn’t he?” Pepperell says. “And not just of the European Tour. He’s an icon for golf. Of that generation of players, he is probably in the top-five globally in terms of popularity. To have that just shows how charismatic he is. I’ve played with him a few times, and he is always very friendly. How can you not love his outlook? I have nothing but admiration for him.”

That is pretty much the universal view of Jimenez, who made four Ryder Cup appearances between 1999 and 2010 and has won nine times, including two majors, on the PGA Tour Champions in the U.S. since turning 50. And, as ever, his pre-tournament interview was laced with typically self-deprecating humour, all delivered in his sometimes barely decipherable version of the English language.

“When you start, you never know where you are going to finish,” says the 21-time European Tour winner. “But with the years going by, I am setting records. I’ve been playing for 32 years now alongside so many great players. Seve Ballesteros. Jack Nicklaus. Gary Player. Jack Nicklaus. Tiger Woods. Phil Mickelson. And now with the new ones on the way up. I’ve had a beautiful life.”

Still, there was a turning point. At 33 and with only two victories to his name, Jimenez was an assistant captain to Ballesteros in the 1997 Ryder Cup at Valderrama.

“That was an amazing experience for me,” Jimenez says. “I was in the right place at the right time. I learned so much. I had played well before that, but it helped me to be there. I haven’t changed though. Why would I have to change? I am myself. I am Miguel Angel Jimenez, someone who has enjoyed the same things all my life. That’s me. You would, for example, have to plant a bomb in my side to get me away from the golf course. The luckiest thing that ever happened to me is finding golf in my life. I do what I want to do. To me, golf is a way of living.”

To his long-standing credit, world No. 313 Drysdale handles the inevitable “why haven’t you won?” questions with equanimity. Having twice lost his card by a handful of Euros and once missed out at the tour qualifying school by a single shot, he is rightly proud of his persistence in the face of much diversity.

David Drysdale talks to the media ahead of this week’s Hero Open, where the Scot will make his 500th European Tour appearance. (Ross Kinnaird)

RELATED: How the European Tour’s approach its return to golf

And his career has not been totally devoid of success. Twice a winner on the Challenge Tour, the former Dunbar Golf Club assistant (at which time he played as a marker alongside John Daly in the 1992 Open Championship at Muirfield) has accumulated nearly €6 million in prize money, a sum that places him 113th on the career earnings list. He has also represented Scotland in the World Cup and been a perennial fixture in the tour’s driving accuracy category. Few have hit more fairways in the 12 years that have passed since the Berwickshire-resident made the last of his 10 Q-school visits.

“I’ll never be truly satisfied as a professional until I have won on tour, but the life it has given me is one of extreme fortune,” Drysdale says. “It is not something you set out to achieve when you start playing professionally to play 500 events on the European Tour, but it is a fantastic achievement. I have enjoyed experiences and made friendships around the world. I know how lucky I am in that respect.”

Maybe so, but good fortune was not on Drysdale’s side earlier this year at the Qatar Masters, where he lost out only at the fifth extra-hole to Jorge Campillo. More than once, the Spaniard holed-out from distance to first stay alive then complete victory.

“It was tough to watch Jorge making all those putts,” Drysdale says. “He literally couldn’t miss. On the first playoff hole, the fact that he got up and down from the fairway bunker was unbelievable. But that’s what Jorge does. He is an absolute machine on the long putts and to be fair to him, every single putt he made in the playoff was right in the middle of the cup. He made the putts and deserved to win.”

And so, after all that he has been through, does David Drysdale. There’s still time. Another 207 events at least, if Jimenez is anything to go by.

The post Miguel Angel Jimenez gets the last laugh on everyone as he sets this European Tour milestone appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joy Chakravaty
Romain Wattel was the last of the six MENA Tour by Arena players to qualify for this week’s OMEGA Dubai Desert Classic. By the end of the opening round, the Frenchman was first among those proudly flying the regional developmental circuit’s flag at the $3.25 million event.

A round of two-under-par 70 in Thursday’s extremely testy conditions left the 29-year-old just three strokes off the lead, held by his playing partner Thomas’ Pieters, and dreaming of a second European Tour win.

MG Keyser, the 2019 Professional ‘Journey to Jordan’ champion, was also inside the cutline after the first round with a two-over-par 74. It could have been a much better result for the South African but for an unfortunate triple-bogey seven on the 9th hole after making an excellent start.

Josh Hill, the reigning amateur MENA Tour champion, struggled with his driving and the brutal rough took a toll on his scorecard with six bogeys against a solitary birdie in a 77. At five-over-par, the 15-year-old world record holder for being the youngest player to win an OWGR recognised event was in tied 101st place. Elsewhere, Australian Daniel Gaunt shot a 78, England’s Harry Konig 80 and Saudi Arabia’s Othman Almulla 83.

Wattel is no stranger to Emirates Golf Club or the ODDC, having finished tied third here alongside now world No.1 Brooks Koepka in the 2014 edition. He’s also won on the European Tour before, at the 2017 KLM Open, but needed to win last week’s 36-hole Arena ShootOut at Al Hamra Golf Club to punch his return ticket to the Majlis.

So far, he’s making the most of a big opportunity, draining a 20-foot birdie putt on the par-4th 9th to close out a round where many others faltered. Playing at .56 of a stroke over par, the lengthened 9th was the toughest hole on Thursday.

“I love Dubai and this tournament,” Wattel said afterwards. “I made Dubai my home for four years and I have a good idea of this golf course. However, the conditions were really tough out there today with the wind and the rough. I am very happy with the way I played.

“I drove the ball really well, and when I needed to make some putts, I made them.”

At one point, Keyser was one of only two players from the morning groups to be in red numbers for the front nine, which was playing decidedly tougher. That was until that triple-bogey disaster on the aforementioned 9th.

“I just pulled my drive and was in the rough. I thought I could muscle it out and just aim for the grandstand to avoid the water and I could have taken a drop and tried to save a par. But the club just closed on me and I found the hazard,” said Keyser, who is making his Desert Classic debut. “I definitely played much better than what my score suggests. I am actually satisfied with a two-over-par card because the conditions were very tough.”

Hill plays his second shot on the par-4 2nd under the watchful eye of caddie Steven Kelbrick. (Photo by Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images)

Hill missed a four-foot par putt on the second for his first bogey of the day, but most of his mistakes happened when he missed fairways off the tee.

“I really had a poor day with my driving. I found only three fairways and it was very difficult to hit out of the rough,” said Hill, winner of the Al Ain Open by Arena last October. “It was another good learning experience, but I hope I can sort out my driving tomorrow. I know I can score much better than this.”

Meanwhile, there were two wins in two weeks for the Jimenez family with Miguel Angel Jimenez Junior winning the MENA Tour by Arena Qualifying School A in Jordan.

Dad Miguel Angel Jimenez, winner of last week’s Mitsubishi Electric Championship on the PGA Tour Champions, is at the Desert Classic and was delighted to learn about his son after carding an impressive even-par round himself.

Jimenez Jr made two eagles in the third and final round at Ayla Golf Club for a six-under-par 66 to clinch medallist honours by three shots on nine-under-par 207.

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7th straight year with at least one win for @Majimenez1964.

Thrilling ending to @MEC_golf. pic.twitter.com/7gTBVKecY5

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) January 19, 2020

And yet, for a few moments on Saturday it appeared Jimenez wasn’t going to get his chance to light up a victory cigar. It wasn’t just the Golf Gods who appeared not to want Jimenez to win, but whoever controls the laws of physics as well. On the 18th hole in regulation, Jimenez had a 12-foot birdie putt that would have given him the title. It was a pretty straight forward putt, uphill with a little break, and it looked for the entire life of it like it was about to fall. Until it didn’t. Hang on through Couples’ missed effort to win in regulation and watch MAJ’s bad break.

As close as it could be to the finish.

Par for Couples.
Par for Jimenez.

We are going to a three-way playoff at @MEC_golf. pic.twitter.com/NU0VkiTGg4

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) January 19, 2020

Seriously?!? What exactly happened there on that last revolution that made the ball seemingly dash left instead of go dark? Jimenez’s expression was understandable.

So on to the first hole of the playoff, where Jimenez once more was in position to come away the winner. This time he had a 30-foot birdie. This downhill effort wasn’t quite makeable, but it sure looked like Jimenez had. Until he didn’t.

It happened again!

Centimeters from a birdie on the first playoff hole for Miguel Angel Jimenez. ? pic.twitter.com/m7BEw3EMed

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) January 19, 2020

When does a golf ball pump the breaks like that?

Naturally, Jimenez was probably a bit concerned standing over the birdie try then on the second playoff hole. Couples had been bounced from the playoff on the first hole, and Els, trying to become the 19th player to win his first PGA Tour Champions event in his first start, seemed to have destiny on his side. Somehow Jimenez put that all beside him. And this time, he finally got the putt to drop.

Right in the center!@majimenez1964 birdies the second playoff hole to top @TheBig_Easy and win the @MEC_golf title. pic.twitter.com/DIEOAxIRpE

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) January 19, 2020

Jimenez was asked afterward what was going through his mind over the putt. His answer was short but sweet.

“Not going to be short,” he joked.

The post Watch this Miguel Angel Jimenez’s putt seem to defy physics in Hawaii appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Strege
It won’t be known for a while, but if the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai is a harbinger of the PGA Tour Champions’ season ahead, it will be a memorable one.

Four World Golf Hall of Famers were tied for the lead at one point on the back nine at Hualalai Golf Club on the Big Island of Hawaii on Saturday, but it was an interloper, Miguel Angel Jimenez, who emerged the victor in a playoff with Ernie Els and Fred Couples.

Jimenez, 56, holed a 12-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole to win the event for the second time.

Early on the back nine, Els, Couples, Bernhard Langer and Retief Goosen, all World Golf Hall of Famers, were tied for the lead at 12-under. Goosen was first to bow out by running out of holes and tied for fourth. Langer was next to go when his tee shot at the par-3 17th got caught in the wind and drifted left and onto the lava. He eventually made a double-bogey there and bogeyed the 18th to fall to a tie for sixth.

Couples faltered on the first playoff hole when he missed a three-foot putt for par, leaving Jimenez and Els the last men standing.

Els, perhaps, came up one day short. Senior events — other than the senior majors — are 54-hole affairs and as such are more a sprint than a marathon. He nervously stumbled in his first round, shooting a 72, which put him eight shots back of the lead.

“From the first day it was pretty disappointing,” Els said. “I was almost last in the field. Then I got myself back up and played some really good golf. Disappointing obviously. I would have loved to got it through, but I had a couple of chances, didn’t quite get the right speed or the right line.”

Els played his way into contention with consecutive 65s on the weekend to get into a playoff with Couples and the interloper, Jimenez, who is not in the World Golf Hall of Fame. Many would argue, however, that he is a Hall of Famer of some sorts, given his popularity and renown in golf circles as the most interesting man in the world.

Jimenez, who shot a final-round 68 for a 54-hole total of 14-under par 202, caught a huge break on the par-3 17th. His tee shot went left and bounded off the lava and back into a bunker from which he was able to save par.

“I was very, very lucky there,” he said.

The PGA Tour Champions was fortunate, too, to open its season with a show featuring a star-studded cast.

The post Miguel Angel Jimenez outlasts a Hall of Fame leaderboard to win the season opener appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The glorious answer to this random pub quiz-style question is that all three have squeezed into the 144-man field for this week’s 33rd Senior Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St Annes via final qualifying.

It’s a dream come true for Trump International Golf Club Dubai club member Kelbrick who like Gary Nicklaus advanced at Hillside Golf Club in Southport, also host venue of the recent British Masters, on Monday. Kelbrick, who has won the Emirates Golf Federation’s season-long Order-of-Merit title two times in the last three years, qualified with a two-over-par round of 74, a shot worse than the Golden Bear’s oldest son who is giving professional golf one last shot.

Chamblee, who worked behind the cameras as Shane Lowry captured last week’s 148th Open Championship at Royal Portrush, was one of 14 successful qualifiers from Fairhaven as he carded a one-under-par round of 72.

More than 500 starters chased the 49 remaining spots for Royal Lytham & St Annes at Monday qualifiers held at Hillside, Fairhaven, Southport & Ainsdale and St Annes Old Links.

Spaniard Miguel Ángel Jiménez will defend the senior claret jug from Thursday in a field overflowing with former major (main and senior circuit) champions.

Kelbrick will be especially excited about the opportunity to join the same fabled fairways as his boyhood hero Tom Watson who has three Senior Opens to go with his five Open Championship wins in 1975, 1977, 1980, 1982 and 1983.

After going within a stroke of qualifying for the 2017 Senior Open at Royal Porthcawl, Kelbrick set his heart on qualifying last year after being promised a practice round with the eight-time major champion if he could qualify for last year’s Senior Open at St. Andrews. He couldn’t quite achieve that – missing by two – but may yet achieve that dream on Wednesday.

“I set out to do this not knowing if it was possible but to say to my children that I have played in the same tournament as Mr Watson,” Kelbrick told Golf Digest Middle East. “It’s a dream realised. I could possibly even play a practice round with him [Watson] on Wednesday but we shall see.”

Kelbrick’s outlined his dream of playing alongside Watson in an interview with Golf Digest Middle East last year.

“I first saw him play at Royal Troon in ’82 when he beat Nick Price [to hoist the Claret Jug for the fourth times] and from that day on…it’s just the way he’s lived his life, conducted himself,” Kelbrick said of Watson. “I’ve had the chance to meet him twice but I’ve never played with him. He’s a hero as man and as for his golf, his record speaks for itself.”

Interestingly, Watson has never won on the famous Lancashire links of Royal Lytham & St Annes.

“My record at Lytham could use some polishing but I would love nothing more than to play well with a chance to win at this iconic and historic venue. I am looking forward to this Major Championship with great anticipation,” Watson told the Staysure Tour.

“Royal Lytham is one of the premier links courses in the world and it always presents the players with a tough but fair challenge,” said the two-time Ryder Cup Captain who has collected wins at Carnoustie, Turnberry, Muirfield, Royal Troon, Royal Birkdale and Royal Aberdeen.

It will be interesting to see if Kelbrick gets his dream practice round and who the Dubai Trophy mainstay is grouped with for the opening two rounds on Thursday and Friday.

Bernhard Langer (1985 and 1993 Masters), who like Watson has won the Senior Open three times, and Fred Couples (1992 Masters) have seven Senior Open titles between them.

Other major champions confirmed for Royal Lytham & St Annes include Michael Campbell (2005 U.S. Open), Retief Goosen (2001 and 2004 U.S. Open), Paul Lawrie (1999 Open), Sandy Lyle (1985 Open, 1988 Masters), Larry Mize (1987 Masters), José María Olazabal (1994 and 1999 Masters), Ian Woosnam (1991 Masters) and Darren Clarke (2011 Open) who hit the opening tee shot at last week’s Open at Royal Portrush.

Perhaps the most dangerous major champion competing this week will be Tom Lehman. The American won the 1996 Open at Royal Lytham and St Annes by two strokes from Ernie Els and Mark McCumber.

Other names to watch this week are Ryder Cup-winning player and captain Paul McGinley, 2016 Senior Open champion Paul Broadhurst and eight-time European Tour Order of Merit winner Colin Montgomerie, who is chasing his fourth senior major title but first on British soil. 

The post Dubai amateur sensationally qualifies for the Senior Open; eyes warm-up round with boyhood hero Tom Watson appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.