Open favourite Torrance so pleased to be back in paradise

As Mauritius prepares to welcome the first-ever PGA European Tour event to be staged on the island, the MCB Senior Open, leading contender Sam Torrance has sounded a warning to his rivals: “I want to be number one again this season.”
The former Ryder Cup player and captain regained top spot in the Senior Order of Merit in 2009 and he has set his sights on still being there in 12 months’ time.
But that is not Torrance’s only motivation for making the 6,000-mile trip from Britain just a few weeks before Christmas.

“Paradise with a golf course,” is how the 56-year-old Scot describes the Constance Belle Mare Plage which is hosting the inaugural MCB Open.
“I have been to the Belle Mare Plage four times on holiday and it is simply stunning,” says Torrance. “And the people there are wonderful.

“It is a great holiday destination,” he adds, “but this week is about trying to win a golf tournament.”
Torrance will be most people’s favourite to make a winning start to the new campaign but he has full respect for the quality of the opposition and will need to concentrate on the job in hand.
He will also be keen to see how the Legend course has been modified since his last visit three years ago when injury prevented him from appearing in the Mauritius Open, the forerunner to the European Tour event.

“Marc Farry tells me that they’ve made a load of changes that will open the course up. That should be good for me,” he said.
Torrance, a winner 21 times on the European Tour, looked set to dominate the Senior Tour after marking his debut season in 2004 with victory in the Senior Masters at Wentworth.
Seven wins over the next two seasons elevated Torrance to the top of the Order of Merit in successive years but he then spent two years struggling with a recurring hand injury.

That did not, however, prevent him from maintaining his record of winning a title in each season that he has been on the Senior Tour.
This year has seen Torrance play some exceptional golf, the highlights being his win in the Barbados Open in March, an outstanding performance for tied fifth in the Senior Open Championship at Sunningdale Old Course in July, and a hard-earned third place in the season-ending Castellon Senior Tour Championship in November that leapfrogged him above old adversary Ian Woosnam in the competition to head the Order of Merit.

Barely a month has passed since then and Torrance is where he best likes to be – on a golf course, in the sunshine, at Constance Belle Mare Plage.
And if you need to find him between rounds?
“I will be sitting by the pool with my dear wife, having a sip of something and making the most of this fabulous place.”

Neil webber