Sam Torrance feels he can keep on

winning for another 10 years

FROM THE SCOTSMAN WEBSITE

By Martin Dempster
Sam Torrance, the top player on the European Senior Tour for the third time in five years, has spoken about how he feels his game is good enough and he can also stay fit enough to keep adding to the 40-odd titles he's won worldwide for another ten years.
In an exclusive interview with "The Scotsman" newspaper, the 56-year-old, who pipped his close friend, Ian Woosnam, at the end of a thrilling battle to reclaim the order of merit from the Welshman, warned the latest batch of players about to turn 50 that he still aims to be the man to beat for a good while yet.

"I relish the new challenges that come along every season and I think I can go on for years yet," he said. "I'll be here until I realise I can't win anymore and I don't think that is going to be in the foreseeable future.

"My game is still very good, which is testament to my father, really, as he gave the swing that has served me so well over the years, and I'm also very fit. I think I've still got at least ten years left in me."

While Torrance was also No 1 on the Senior Tour in 2005 and 2006, he says this latest success was the sweetest of the three, due to the fact he's not getting any younger and also because he had to produce some outstanding golf over the course of the season to finish ahead of Woosnam.

"This one was the best – absolutely," added Torrance, who has now equalled Carl Mason's total and is just two behind Tommy Horton's benchmark of five order of merit titles.

"When you start out on the main Tour, you are getting better each year. On the Seniors Tour, though, you start on the downslope. Each year it gets harder because each year you are getting older.

"That's why I was so pleased about this success and, in the end, it was one shot either way between Woosie and me. I watched the final event (the OKI Castellon Senior Tour Championship] the other night, funnily enough, and Woosie lipped out at the ninth, his last hole. I wouldn't have won it had that gone in. Meanwhile, I holed a putt for birdie at 17 and if I hadn't done that I wouldn't have won it either. It was great."

According to Torrance, who opted to concentrate on Europe after deciding that all the travelling and time away from home he'd have been faced with if he was playing on the Champions Tour in America wasn't for a family man like him, the performance that secured the title this time around wasn't actually a victory.

It came in the Senior Open Championship at Sunningdale, where the Scot finished fifth, just missing on the play-off that saw Loren Roberts pip Mark McNulty and Fred Funk for the title by two shots.

"You could call it a disappointment because I didn't win that week but, equally, you could say it was a great performance," he added. "What it did do was win me the order of merit, really, because that fifth place was worth £57,000 – almost like winning two normal events.

"When it was announced it (the Senior Open] was going to be played at Sunningdale, I gave up drinking for three years specifically for that event, thinking that might have made the difference.

"I played extremely well over the four days. I had one triple-bogey at the second in the third round. Take that away and I'm the winner. It was so close. Winning the order of merit was always one of my aims after never managing that on the main Tour. Now I would love to win a major on the Seniors Tour. It's Carnoustie next year, so we shall see what happens there."

Torrance was speaking during a visit to Malaga where, in his role as Scotland's official golf ambassador, he was launching the VisitScotland 2010 Golf Guide at the International Golf Travel Market (IGTM).

With the 150th Open Championship being staged at St Andrews next year, a photograph of the Old Course adorns the front cover of that guide and Torrance, who has since moved on to South Africa to do some commentating during this week's Nedbank Affinity Cup at Sun City, had some interesting things to say on the plans revealed recently by the R&A to lengthen the Road Hole by creating a new tee.

"I don't think you should change anything that isn't broken," he said. "The 17th at St Andrews is just a fantastic hole. It doesn't matter if you are hitting wedge or 4-iron into that green, it is a very, very difficult shot.

"I feel as though with golf course architecture at the moment they are kind of going in the wrong direction by lengthening all the time. That just gives more of an advantage to the longer hitters. I'd rather see something a bit more subtle. A bunker, for instance, down that right-hand side. It doesn't need to be changed."

While he rarely plays on the main Tour himself these days, Torrance keeps an eye on what's happening there and the man who led Europe to Ryder Cup glory at The Belfry in 2002 believes things are shaping up nicely for Colin Montgomerie as he prepares to become the next Scot to take on that role at the Celtic Manor Resort in Wales next October.

"It is looking great for Monty," he said. "His good players are playing well, the likes of Westwood and McIlroy, for example. There's a new breed as well and I think it is building up nicely. Monty is very similar to me in that he just adores the Ryder Cup.

"He loves the team part of it, he loves the event and it means so much to him. Monty will give it everything. He'll not leave a rock unturned and I think he'll do a great job."

While McIlroy was just pipped in the end by Westwood in the battle to be Europe's No 1 this season, Torrance admits he has been impressed by the young Ulsterman, though he revealed he knew some time ago that he had the potential to be that bit special.

"As a 13-year-old, he came to stay with me as he is a similar age to Daniel (his son]," said Torrance. "At that point, I thought 'this boy is hot, he's exceptional'. He wasn't long at that time but he was as straight a hitter as I've ever seen. Now he's combined that now and is one of the longest hitters in the world. That is a huge asset.

"Nothing surprises me about him at all. He's an old head on young shoulders. He's handled everything beautifully. The bunker shot he hit in Dubai to win there earlier in the year told me a lot about him. He laid up and then put it in the back bunker, from where he had to get up and down to win. It's a treacherous shot from that bunker. An ounce too hard and you are in the water.

"That showed a lot of class to me. It showed me what was to come from him. We've kept in touch. It is great to see how successful he has been so far and deservedly, too."

Scottish golf is crying out for its own Rory McIlroy and Torrance got to see some of the young talent north of the Border for himself a few years ago when Daniel, whom he partnered to victory in the Dunhill Links team event in 2003, played in some of the leading boys' events up here.

"It (the search for new talent] comes from the grass roots level, the schools and the golf clubs allowing their juniors to play. They are the stars of the future and I'd like to see more access for junior golfers on golf courses," he said.

For the vastly-experienced Torrance, there isn't much chance to sit back and enjoy his latest success. The 2010 European Senior Tour gets underway in Mauritius next week (December 11-13) and he has another title firmly in his sights. "I'm hoping to get off to a good start again," he said.