Woosnam in Barbados for Seniors Tour

Ian Woosnam embarks on a new adventure this week as the expanding European Seniors Tour emerges from its winter slumber with the first event of its 17th season on the Caribbean Island of Barbados. Woosnam, who won the Masters Tournament just a year before the Seniors Tour swung into action for the first time, will have the benefit of local knowledge when he tees up in the unfamiliar role of ‘Tour Rookie’ in the DGM Barbados Open from March 5-7. The season's opening tournament is played at Royal Westmoreland Golf Club, where the man known universally as “Woosie” – who turned 50 on Sunday – has a home. The patriotic Welshman, who will forever be remembered in the Principality and beyond for his historic win at Augusta National in 1991, celebrated his half century with friends on the boat he has moored on the Caribbean Island. But with his competitive fires still burning brightly, Woosnam will now turn his attentions to the more serious business of trying to win golf tournaments – though he will still do so with a smile on his face. Woosnam, whose last European Tour victory came at the World Match Play Championship in 2001, said: “It’s hard work competing against the youngsters these days. You don’t want to wish your life away, but I have been looking forward to this for five years now. The main thing, though, is to enjoy myself because I haven’t really done that in the past few years. “It would be nice to feel I can win again. I don’t know when I last had that feeling. If you don’t feel like you can compete, what is the point? But these guys can play. You can’t just turn up and expect to win.”