£4,800 payday for Scot as he sets out on over-50s circuit

ROSS DRUMMOND FINISHES

SIXTH IN EUROPEAN

SENIORS DEBUT

By STEVEN FRANKLIN

Press Officer, European Seniors Tour

Four times Scottish professional champion Ross Drummond from Prestwick, pictured right, had mixed emotions after finishing in a share of sixth place on his European Seniors Tour debut at the DGM Barbados Open today.

The Paisley-born former European Tour stalwart and subject of the best-selling golf book, Four Iron in the Soul, carded rounds of 72-70-72 to finish on two under par 214 and left Royal Westmoreland with a cheque for £4,797.

The 6ft 4in Tartan Tour regular since he lost his European Tour player's card after 20-odd years was the best placed on the four Scots in the 48-man field.

Drummond said he was bitterly disappointed with the quality of his short game and felt that he should have finished much closer to the eventual winner, England's Gordon J Brand, who collected his third European Seniors Tour title in four events with a 54-hole total of eight under par 208.

On a brighter note, however, the Prestwick golfer was delighted to confirm his competitiveness at this level after a five-year stint playing Scottish PGA Region events.

"This tournament was a bit of a benchmark for me. I had been looking at the Seniors Tour scores in the run-up to turning 50 and thought that I would do okay, but then again you don't know what the courses are like and what the course set-up is going to be.

"Now I have a good idea of both and I look forward to competing amongst the leading Seniors Tour players this season. I just need to put in extra work on my short game," commented Drummond.

Brand, who played with Drummond on the final day, stormed through the field in six-under-par 66 to win the DGM Barbados Open title by a stroke from Doug Johnson of the United States.

The former Ryder Cup player secured the first prize of £19,990 with a 54 hole total of eight under par 208, one better than a charging Johnson, who finished with three birdies in the closing five holes for a fine round of 67.

Overnight leader Giuseppe Cali of Italy, who had produced some wonderful ball-striking with his new Cleveland irons, closed with a 73 to take third place on six under par.

Brand admitted he had been surprised to keep his hot streak going. The winning stretch had started back in October when he outscored, among others, two-time Open champion Greg Norman to capture his maiden Seniors Tour title in Spain and two events later he was on top again, making up a five shot deficit before beating Adan Sowa in a play-off at the Arcapita Seniors Tour Championship in Bahrain.

"It's amazing to win again and to be honest I hadn't expected it, although I always seem to play better in hot weather," commented Brand, who can point to seven wins in Africa as further evidence of this point.

"I had not played much golf before coming here and I wasn't feeling too positive after my opening scores of 72 and 70, but then someone pointed out that I was in fourth place.

"Then I started thinking that I've got a chance, as it's obviously not only me who is finding the greens difficult to read. I set out today thinking that if I got to five under par I would have a chance of a play-off. As it happened I holed everything I had to and got to eight under, which was only just enough. I had been watching Cali all day but Johnson finished really fast and nearly surprised me."

Sam Torrance, winner of the European Seniors Tour Order of Merit for the past two years, is still unable to resume playing this year due to a hand injury.

FINAL TOTALS

Par 216 (3 X 72)

208 Gordon J Brand (Eng) 72 70 66.

209 Doug Johnson (US) 72 70 67.

210 Giuseppe Cali (Ita) 68 69 73.

213 José Rivero (Spa) 69 74 70, Bob Cameron (Eng) 70 70 73.

214 Juan Quiros (Spa) 73 69 72, Ian Mosey (Eng) 69 73 72, Ross Drummond (Sco) 72 70 72.

215 Luis Carbonetti (Arg) 69 74 72, Nick Job (Eng) 67 75 73.

216 Bruce Heuchan (Can) 75 73 68, Delroy Cambridge (Jam) 71 70 75.

217 Tony Johnstone (Zim) 72 71 74, Alan Tapie (US) 70 73 74.

218 Martin Poxon (Eng) 74 72 72.

219 Pete Oakley (US) 71 77 71, Gavan Levenson (SAf) 73 74 72, Glenn Ralph (Eng) 78 68 73.

220 Jimmy Heggarty (NIr ) 72 74 74, Jerry Bruner (US) 69 77 74, Emilio Rodriguez (Spa) 80 72 68.

221 John Chillas (Sco) 73 73 75.

222 Denis O'Sullivan (Ire) 70 75 77, Bob Boyd (US) 72 77 73, Adan Sowa (Arg) 74 73 75, David Creamer (Eng) 75 75 72, Antonio Garrido (Spa) 69 75 78, Bob Lendzion (US) 75 71 76.

223 Mike Miller (Sco) 74 74 75, Bill Hardwick (Can) 75 73 75, Andrew Murray (Eng) 76 71 76.

224 Bertus Smit (SAf) 75 74 75, Tim Rastall (Eng) 76 73 75, Manuel Piñero (Spa) 76 77 71, Neville Clarke (SAf) 79 72 73, Tony Charnley (Eng) 76 73 75.

225 Kevin Spurgeon (Eng) 72 78 75.

226 Gery Watine (Fra) 79 75 72.

227 John Benda (US) 74 76 77, David J Russell (Eng ) 72 78 77, Guillermo Encina (Chi ) 77 80 70.

228 Victor Garcia (Spa) 74 75 79, Ray Carrasco (US) 76 81 71, Horacio Carbonetti (Arg) 78 73 77.
230 Maurice Bembridge (Eng) 73 76 81.

231 Martin Gray (Sco) 78 77 76.

234 Tommy Horton (Eng) 78 79 77.

237 Brian Evans (Eng) 79 81 77.