Senior debutant Barry Lane targets Carnoustie success

NEWS RELEASE

Barry Lane will attempt to add The Senior Open Championship presented by MasterCard title to the Scottish Open crown he won in 1988 when he makes his debut in a Senior Major Championship next month.

The Englishman, a five time winner on The European Tour, turns 50 on June 21 and joins the European Senior Tour ranks for next week’s De Vere Collection PGA Seniors Championship.
Lane, whose Scottish Open victory at Gleneagles 22 years ago was his maiden European Tour title, will then line up alongside some of golf’s all-time greats, including Sir Nick Faldo, Gary Player, Tom Watson and Ian Woosnam, at Carnoustie for The Senior Open Championship presented by MasterCard from July 22-25.
“Carnoustie is a shot‑maker's golf course,” said Lane. “It is a very, very difficult golf course.
“I think you're going to have a great champion that week, because it is proper golf course and I think everybody is really looking forward to it.
“The only time I played it was in the Alfred Dunhill Links and I played with Tiger Woods, who was still an amateur. He couldn't play at all because it was just so windy.”
Lane will hope to replicate Scot Andrew Oldcorn’s strong start to his Senior Tour career, after the 2001 PGA Championship winner finished tied eighth in the US Senior Open Championship last month and followed that up with a share of sixth place in the Matrix Jersey Classic.
With his last victory coming in the 2004 British Masters , Lane is keen to return to the winner’s enclosure when he is back among his contemporaries on the Senior Tour.
“I've won in the 1980s, the 1990s and I won in the new millennium as well, so it would be good to win in four decades,” he said. “My victory in the British Masters was particularly special because it had been such a long time since I had won - ten years since my previous European Tour win.
“I really struggled around the 2000 mark, as I have over the last two or three years, but I still love to play golf. I probably have to practice harder now than I've ever done.”
Lane, who also picked up a cool $1million for winning the Accenture World Championship of Golf in 1995, is currently second behind Sam Torrance on the all-time list of European Tour appearances, having played in 659 tournaments, and he will hope to emulate the success of the former Ryder Cup Captain on the Senior Tour.
Torrance has won three Order of Merits, including last season when he edged out former World Number One Ian Woosnam to claim the John Jacobs Trophy, and Lane is relishing the chance to take on the pair who were his teammates in The 1993 Ryder Cup at The Belfry.
“I'm looking forward to joining the Senior Tour,” he said. “I would love to keep my card on The European Tour this year - that's my priority – but I will definitely play in some Senior Tour events and support the Senior Tour.
“The European Tour has done me proud and it's been my life for nearly 30 years and I want to put something back into it by supporting the Senior Tour. I think the Senior Tour is looking strong with Sam and Woosie and Bernhard Langer.
“It’s going to be fun seeing Sam Torrance and Woosie and the boys again. There are not many sports that you can carry on playing when you're 50 so I’m looking forward to it.”
Tickets are now on sale at a discounted rate to see the line up of Ryder Cup Captains play in The Senior Open Championship, while hospitality packages at Carnoustie Hotel are also available.
Spectators can buy tickets by visiting www.senioropengolf.com or by calling +44 (0) 800 023 2557, or on the gate. One day tickets are £25 and season tickets are £70.
Substantial savings can now be made both on day passes and season tickets for The 2010 Senior Open Championship, which are priced respectively at £16.50 and £60, with a further 10% discount available to MasterCard cardholders.