Englishman eyes Tobago golf history

England’s Carl Mason will be looking to extend his winning streak to four events in succession when the 2004 European Seniors Tour season gets underway in Tobago from March 19 to 21 with the Tobago Plantations Seniors Classic. Mason, who won his last three starts of the 2003 season on his way to winning the Order of Merit will be aiming to emulate the feat of another Englishman, Tommy Horton, the only player to have achieved four successive victories to date, having won the last three events of the 1997 season and the first event of 1998. Among those seeking to stop Mason’s run will be Scotland’s Bill Longmuir, who finished second to Mason in the 2003 Order of Merit with two victories, and Australian Terry Gale, who will be defending both opening events of the new season.

Gale captured both the Tobago Plantations Seniors Classic and the DGM Barbados Open in successive weeks as well as the Charles Church Scottish Seniors Open on his way to finishing third in the Order of Merit and will be keen to make another flying start to the season on his return to Tobago and Barbados. Gale first cruised to a six-shot victory over compatriot Brian Jones and America’s Jerry Bruner at Royal Westmoreland. Gale started the final round with a six-shot lead over Denis Durnian, Jones and David Oakley but both Durnian and Oakley fell away with 74s and in the end the Australian finished with a similar advantage over Jones and America’s Jerry Bruner.

The following week Gale triumphed again, continuing his spectacular run of form with a three- stroke victory over Scotland’s John Chillas. Gale started the final round one-shot behind Chillas but he overhauled the Scot with a birdie the eighth and an eagle on the ninth before going on to equal the best round of the week with further birdies on the 11th, 17th and 18th. The Australian finished the tournament on 13 under par 203, three shots ahead of Chillas and six in front of Jamaica’s Delroy Cambridge and Chile’s Guillermo Encina. Among the new faces making their debuts in the Caribbean Swing will be former European Tour winners Jeff Hawkes and Gavan Levenson of South Africa and Manuel Ramos of Spain. Hawkes won the 1991 Canon European Masters, Levenson the 1979 Belgian Open and 1991 Open de Balearics while Ramos captured the 1977 Portuguese Open.