Woosnam ready to lean on his
caddy in PGA Seniors' bid

PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY PGA
Ian Woosnam admits he’ll be relying on his caddy more than usual when he embarks on his bid to win the De Vere Collection PGA Seniors Championship at Slaley Hall tomorrow.
The former world number one revealed he’s only ever been to the Northumbrian resort once before – to attend the wedding of Ian Botham’s son, Liam.
But Woosnam, who played the Dave Thomas-designed Hunting Course for the first time in today’s pro-am, has no fears about his prospects and is looking forward to the challenge – with the help of his caddy Lee Adelly.
“I’ve only been here once – and I didn’t play,” he said. “I came to Beefy’s son’s wedding in 1997 and the reason I remember is because I went from here to the Ryder Cup in Valderrama.
“If it rains again I could be going in blind but my caddy’s been here a few times so that helps. Sometimes you come to a new venue and ideally you need a couple of rounds but one is usually enough.”
Woosnam hasn’t picked up a club since competing in the US Seniors Championship two weeks ago but is happy with his form on the European Seniors Tour which has netted him wins in the Russian and Polish Opens and taken him to the top of the Order of Merit, ahead of Bernhard Langer.
“I’ve had two wins, played well to win the Polish Open and it would be nice to try and win another one before the end of the season,” said Woosnam on the eve of the £300,000 tournament.
“I won the PGA Championship on the main Tour and the idea is to try and win all the big events if you possibly can.”
Woosnam, who will have defending champion Carl Mason in his sights after being drawn together in the first round, is enjoying his golf and revealed he would love to play more in Europe.
“The competition is still intense but you don’t get so upset if you don’t do well,” he said. “Obviously you want to play to some decent standard but it’s more relaxed and that’s what it should be. At 50 you should be enjoying it.
“Seniors golf is big in the US, lots of money to play for, and it would be nice to see Europe getting bigger.
“We need the seniors' tournaments to be at least £300,000 really. I would like to play more here. The US has the attraction of the money but if we get a few more tournaments in that right bracket I would very much consider playing more over here.”
Gordon Brand Junior, who is making his Seniors Tour debut following his 50th birthday on Tuesday, is drawn alongside former Ryder Cup team-mate Sam Torrance. Bill Longmuir makes up their three-ball which tees off at 1.05pm.
Wildwood’s Phil Harrison, whose brother Steve is also in the tournament, has been handed a good draw where he will play alongside Latin favourites and Ryder Cup stalwarts, Costantino Rocca and Jose Rivero. They tee off at 8.45.
Selected tee-off times:
8.45am: Jose Rivero, Costantino Rocca and Phil Harrison.
12.55pm: Juan Quiros, Ian Woosnam and Carl Mason.
1.05pm: Gordon Brand Jnr, Sam Torrance and BillLongmuir.

+Live scoring for all four rounds of the championship will be available from Thursday 21 August onwards at www.PGA.info
Competitor draw and full list of entries for the event at De Vere Slaley Hall available under 'Schedule, Scores and Results' at http://www.pga.info/PGASeniorsChampionship.aspx

Visit www.PGA.info for up to date reports and scores throughout the season from the De Vere Collection PGA Seniors Championship and all PGA tournaments.