Mitchell keen to get back to business after four wins in first two years

Few players can have made quite the impact on their arrival on the Senior Tour as Londoner Peter Mitchell, a first-time visitor to Mauritius. Seven years after quitting the PGA European Tour at the end of the 2001 season, Mitchell was persuaded to return to competitive golf on the Senior Tour.

He warmed up with an appearance at La Moye in the Jersey Seniors Classic on his Senior Tour debut in June 2008 and a week later, picked up the biggest cheque of his career when winning the Ryder Cup Wales Seniors Open, beating home favourite Ian Woosnam by two strokes in the process.

By the end of his first season on the senior circuit, Mitchell had visited the winner’s enclosure twice more, scoring victories in the Scottish Seniors Open and the Italian Seniors Open, and found himself in third place in the Order of Merit, having played fewer tournaments than anyone else in the top 20.

This year has been a little less dramatic but has not been without success, with the amiable 51-year-old picking up another trophy, this time in the Czech Republic, a win that secured his position in the top half-a-dozen players on the Tour.

So, Mauritius will be new ground for Mitchell, but it’s a challenge he is relishing: “I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “It’s the start of a new season, so that makes it important and everyone will be wanting to make a good start, so it will be competitive as well.

” After dropping out of the main European Tour in 2002, Mitchell turned his attention to coaching and a number of Tour regulars benefited from his analytical acumen and his guidance.

Mitchell opened a string of academies – he now has one in Madeira and two in England – and concentrates more on coaching young professionals and amateurs, something he finds particularly rewarding, at Chart Hills Golf Club, near to his home in the picturesque Kent village of Woodchurch. “Things are brilliant,” he says. “I’m really enjoying life.

“I’ve got some good guys around me, like Bryan Cooke, the head teaching professional at Chart Hills, and it’s been great to meet up on Tour with a lot of guys I used to play with before I retired. “We enjoy each others’ company and have a laugh but we take the competition seriously.” That will probably mean no time for Mitchell to indulge in his favourite pastime away from golf, fishing. “As far as I am concerned, playing golf is my business and provides important income so I need to concentrate fully when I’m competing. “I am committing to a full year in 2010 and that means I’m going to Mauritius with the intention of performing well.”

Mitchell, married with three daughters, including twins, says he’s looking forward to seeing the Legend course at Constance Belle Mare Plage for the first time. “I’ve heard a bit about it from Marc Farry. He tells me it’s a tight layout but he also says that they’ve made some good changes so it’s going to be interesting to find out exactly what it’s like.”

Neil webber