Paul aims to roll back the years at US PGA
PAUL Broadhurst will be winding back the years this week as he rubs shoulders with golf’s biggest names in the US PGA Championship.
Victory in the senior version of the major earlier this year secured the veteran Atherstone golfer a place in the main tour edition that gets underway today.
The 52-year-old is a 1,000-1 shot for victory as the likes of Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods shoot for glory in the final major of the golf season.
When Broadhurst tees off at Bellerive Country Club in Missouri, it will be only his third main-tour major appearance in nine years, following his participation at The Open in 2012 and 2017.
Broadhurst cruised to victory at the Senior PGA Championship in May winning by four strokes, which secured his seventh victory on the seniors tour since turning 50 in 2015.
It also confirmed the 1991 Ryder Cup star’s place on the lucrative PGA Tour Champions circuit until 2020.
Speaking to the Coventry Telegraph in May, Broadhurst conceded that qualification for the main tour PGA Championship did create some schedule issues, but it was an offer he could not refuse.
“It’s messed my schedule up to be honest,” said the two-time Senior Tour major winner. “That was meant to be a week off! I’d got it all planned out. If I play the US PGA I may have to play six on the spin.
“It’s a bit of a tall order during the middle of the summer. But I’ve got to go and play. It’ll be a massive test. The course is going to be 7,500 yards long. That’s quite a long way for me nowadays.
“But having won, I feel it would be daft to turn away the opportunity to go and play in a full major.”
Broadhurst will be teeing off at 12.59pm US time (6.59pm UK) alongside another familiar figure from the seniors tour, John Daly, who won the PGA Championship back in 1991.
Since winning the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship, Broadhurst has recorded only one top-ten finish in America from four events, but that came in the US Senior Open Championship where he finished tied fifth to win $141,467 in prize money.
He ranks sixth on the Charles Schwab Cup money list with $1,100,736 earned. Despite only playing four qualifying events on the rival Staysure European Senior Tour, Broadhurst tops the order of merit.
Nuneaton golfer Andy Sullivan is also participating in the PGA Championship. His playing group includes Thai golfer Kiradech Aphibarnrat and American Bryson DeChambeau.