PLAYING TO WIN
Golf icon says he’s no John Farnham, but this time he’s ...
GOLD Coast golf legend Peter Senior insists his return to the Australian PGA Championship is no comeback and has already ruled out making another cameo in 2019. Maybe.
The three-time PGA Championship winner (1989, 2003, 2010) accepted a late invitation to play in the Australian Open a fortnight ago and this week’s Championship despite retiring from professional golf last year.
The Sanctuary Cove resident joked he wouldn’t follow in the footsteps of Australian music legend John Farnham and continually come out of retirement to play at the tournament in his home city. “That wont be happening,” Senior said of another 2019 return.
“(Farnham) has been coming back for years. I’ve only been doing it for two,” Senior said. “It’s not a comeback. It’s just that the Australian Open officials tried to get all the old winners back and that’s why I played it and I am only playing the PGA because it’s in my backyard.
“The courses are getting too long for me now. I hit the ball a lot shorter than I used to.
“It makes it hard for me to compete when these young guys who are hitting it 80 yards (73m) past me.”
Senior missed the cut at the Australian Open after carding seven-over par in the first two rounds, largely due to two wayward drives on day one that resulted in an eight on the first hole and double bogey on the 14th.
The 59-year-old finished tied 37th at last year’s Australian PGA Championship at Royal Pines with four-under par.
Senior revealed a lack of fitness left him exhausted going into the final two rounds last year but a strict training regime leading into this year’s event has him primed to deliver his best.
“I’m a lot fitter than what I was last year,” Senior said.
“I hadn’t played a tournament for 14 months before last year’s PGA. When you play at Hope Island it’s always in a cart.
“You lose that fitness when you don’t play regularly and don’t walk regularly.
“I have done a lot of walking this time and quite a bit of up hill stuff.
“I breezed through the Australian Open but unforuately I had a bad round on day one.”
Senior said he was regularly hiking through Mt Tamborine with wife June to build his strength.
“My wife took me through a few rainforest walks up the cliffs. She is pretty fit and runs about 10km a day,” Senior said.
“We were walking up to 15km at a good pace.”
Senior’s son Mitchell Senior, 24, will caddy for his father at the Australian PGA Championship, something he did for seven years while Senior played in the US.