February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By John Manley
Joe McDermott and Dr. Arthur Spring both harbored visions of playing the American Seniors Tour next year, but the vision will remain within each one’s respective imagination.
McDermott missed the number that would have sent him to the final stage of Q-School by five strokes. The magic number was 293, but he could only manage 298 (77-71-76-74) at the Marsh Creek Country Club in St. Augustine, Fla.
Spring teed off at the Rio Rico Resort in Arizona, where his score of 308 (77-80-76-75) was well off the 296 needed to advance.
Praia D’el Rey European Cup
While McDermott and Spring played unsuccessfully for tee times on a circuit across the Atlantic, their cohorts on the European Seniors Tour did battle with women half their age in Portugal.
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The Praia D’El Rey European Cup brought these two disparate teams together in Obidos, Portugal.
The first-round matched five teams of two men against two women, with the ladies winning, 3-2. Christy O’Connor, Jr. and Eddie Polland were 3 and 2 winners over Trish Johnson and Karen Lunn. David Jones joined Jim Rhodes, who came up losers to Catriona Matthew and Mhairi McKay, 2 and 1. Denis O’Sullivan teamed with Bobby Verwey to defeat Alison Nicholas and Marie-Laure de Lorenzi, 3 and 2.
The seniors took no prisoners in the second round fourballs, winning 4 and two. Polland and Jones were 1 up winners over Sophie Gustafson and Catrin Nilsmark. O’Sullivan and Verwey split their match with Lunn and Johnson. O’Connor and Tommy Horton had an easy time with Matthew and McKay, winning 4 and 3.
The men were little match for the ladies when they went mano a mano, however. The gentler sex prevailed, 6 -3 . O’Connor bossed McKay 5 and 4, and Jones was a 2 and 1 winner over Lora Fairclough. The vanquished included O’Sullivan, a 4 and 3 loser to Gustafson, and Polland, who fell to Maria Hjorth, 5 and 4. The mathematically inclined in the audience have by now deduced that the score ended in a 10-all tie, with the guys, the defending champions, retaining the Cup.
Taiheiyo Masters
Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood brought their friendly rivalry to Japan last week for the Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters. Westwood finished at 275 and won the tournament by two strokes over M. Ozaki. Clarke tied for 16th place with a 4-under-par 284 (71-71-70-72).