Broadhurs t:Senior moment means morethanRyder Cup
AFTER holding his nerve over Carnoustie’s fearsome closing stretch to claim The Senior Open title, Paul Broadhurst rated the victory as even bigger than representing Europe in the Ryder Cup.
The Englishman fought back from four shots behind overnight leader Miguel Angel Jimenez with a closing round of 68 to finish 11-under-par, with American Scott McCarron two shots behind in second place, after Jimenez slipped back to a share of third with Swede Magnus Atlevi.
Broadhurst knew he needed the Spaniard to slip up to give him a chance and the man from Malaga did so, starting and finishing the back nine with double bogey sixes on his way to a three-over-par 75.
But Broadhurst had to hold his own once he found himself facing the last three card-wrecking holes having moved ahead for the first time after rolling in a seven-foot birdie at the 15th.
“I guess I was pretty in control of my emotions until I holed the putt at 15 to go one ahead and then suddenly reality hit and the swing got a little bit faster and the heart rate got a lot faster,” he admitted.
“I was chasing at the time. On the 15th tee, I was one shot behind. So I wasn’t really thinking of winning at the time.
“I was just trying to get it in play and create a chance if I could and I hit a perfect drive at 15, a great 7-iron to about four feet and rolled it in for birdie.
“It was then that I thought, ‘Wow, I’ve got a realistic chance of winning’.”
ASIDE from a £213,000 cheque the victory is career-changing, opening up access to the US-based Champions Tour for the next two years.
“It’s massive, absolutely massive” said Broadhurst. “I’m not aware of how big it is yet. I’m trying not to think about it. Beyond my wildest dreams.
“This sort of thing doesn’t happen to players like me. I’ve won a few tournaments over the years, but nothing anywhere near as big as this event.”
The importance that Seniors golf now has was put in perspective by a man who has won six times on the European Tour as well as making that Ryder Cup appearance 25 years ago.
“It’s difficult to compare, but personally this is the biggest achievement of my career,” Broadhurst said.
“Getting in the Ryder Cup was massive, but that was a result of a load of performances, an accumulation of points that got me in there.
“This has got to rank higher than the Ryder Cup.”
In performing as he did Broadhurst also proved a point to his caddie, his teenage son Sam who, close to a decade ago, gave him a jolt to his system when he told a stranger in a supermarket: “My dad used to be a good golfer”.
“He aspires to be a professional one day, so hopefully we’ve shown him how good you’ve got to be.”