Mike Harwood to make Senior Tour debut

in Brunei after a 10-year sabbatical

PRESS RELEASE
Australian Mike Harwood, a five-time winner on The European Tour, will return to full-time golf after a sabbatical of more than a decade when he makes his European Senior Tour debut in the Aberdeen Brunei Senior Masters presented by The Stapleford Forum from February 27-March 1.
At 6ft 4in, Harwood will join Scotland’s Ross Drummond as the tallest player on the Senior Tour and he is hoping to make big strides in the Senior Tour Order of Merit in his rookie season.
After celebrating his 50th birthday in January, Harwood will hope to make a similar sort of impact to one of last year’s debutants, Englishman Peter Mitchell, who won three times in his maiden campaign in 2008.
However, after such protracted break from the game Harwood remains realistic about his expectations for his own first season on the Senior Tour.
“My thoughts for this season are only excitement,” he said. “Having so many years off has been very difficult but also very rewarding to be with my family. During that time I have played several tournaments each year in Australia and played the pro-am circuit at home.
“My target this year is to finish in the Senior Tour Top 20 and to work hard and dedicate myself full-time back to the game.
“The Top 20 players on the Senior Tour are strong and hopefully I can play to that standard. My main rival this year is, without doubt, myself.”
Harwood is certainly no stranger to success having won two of the biggest tournaments on the European Tour Schedule in 1990 – the PGA Championship and the Volvo Masters – en route to his career-best finish of sixth in the Order of Merit.
Those titles followed his maiden victory in the Portuguese Open in 1988 and triumph in the PLM Open in 1989, with his fifth and final European Tour win arriving in the 1991 European Open.
Harwood also finished runner up in the 1991 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, two strokes behind compatriot Ian Baker-Finch, and he will hope to rekindle that sort of display when he makes his debut in The Senior Open Championship presented by MasterCard at Sunningdale Golf Club in July.
“I am really looking forward to playing The Senior Open Championship but as for winning this year, a win in any tournament would be a fantastic achievement,” he said.
Harwood will hope to follow in the footsteps of fellow Australian’s Stewart Ginn, a winner on the Senior Tour in 2008, and Noel Ratcliffe, one of the Senior Tour’s most successful players. Ratcliffe recorded eight Senior Tour victories between 1997 and 2005 and won the Order of Merit in 2000 and Harwood admits the standard set by his friend will provide a benchmark for him.
“Noel Ratcliffe had an outstanding Senior Tour career and we have played together many times, and stayed together several times,” he said. “Not only would I like to match Noel’s Senior Tour highlights, but I’d also like to go one step further.”
Among the familiar Senior Tour faces Harwood will encounter when he tees up in the season opener at The Empire Hotel & Country Club will be former Ryder Cup Captains Bernard Gallacher and Sam Torrance, as well as Gordon J Brand, a two time winner in 2008, two –time Major Champion Sandy Lyle and all-time leading Senior Tour money winner Carl Mason.