EUROPEAN SENIOR TOUR STARTS ON MAJORCA MAY 11-13

NEWS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE EUROPEAN SENIORS TOUR

The 2012 European Senior Tour season will begin on the Spanish island of Mallorca when Pula Golf Club hosts the inaugural Mallorca Open Senior from May 11-13.

Designed by 2012 European Ryder Cup Captain José María Olazábal, who will be eligible to join the Senior Tour in 2016, Pula Golf Club in Son Servera will welcome the Senior Tour for the first time having previously hosted seven European Tour events.

With a prize fund of €200,000 and first prize of €30,000, the Mallorca Open Senior will take place two weeks before the US Senior PGA Championship presented by KitchenAid, launching the 21st Senior Tour season and the contest to succeed Peter Fowler as winner of the John Jacobs Trophy.

It will be the Senior Tour’s first visit to Mallorca since 2009, when Mark James defeated former Ryder Cup teammate Eamonn Darcy in a play-off to win the Son Gual Mallorca Senior Open.

The tournament also means the return of top class golf to Pula Golf Club which hosted both editions of the Iberdrola Open on The European Tour, won in 2010 by Ryder Cup player Peter Hanson and last year by Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke two months before he lifted the Claret Jug in The 140th Open Championship at Royal St George’s.

Prior to that, Pula Golf Club hosted the Mallorca Classic on The European Tour between 2003 and 2007, with the first three editions won by Spanish Ryder Cup players Miguel Angel Jiménez, Sergio Garcia and course designer Olazábal respectively.