SWINGING seniors

Benahavis Masters returns to La Quinta

GOLF AFICIONADOS will be able to enjoy top European Senior Tour action on the Coast this month with the second edition of the Benahavis Senior Masters at La Quinta Golf & Country Club from 15 to 17 October.

In an enthralling finale last year, Carl Mason defeated Gordon Brand Jr in sudden-death after both had finished regulation play on seven-under 206.

It was Mason’s 22nd Senior Tour title, leaving him one short of Tommy Horton’s total of 23 – a record he equalled this July in the Bad Ragaz PGA Seniors Open. Brand also went on to seal his first win as a senior, in the Matrix Jersey Classic in June.

La Quinta Golf and Country Club was designed by European Tour and World Cup multi-champion Manuel Piñero, who finished 11th last year in the Benahavis Masters. Guadiaro’s favourite golfing son, Juan Quirós (pictured above), a three-time European Senior Tour winner, was 15th.

After Benahavis, the 2010 Tour once again ends with the OKI Castellón Senior Tour Championship at the Mediterráneo club from 5 to 7 November.

Australian Mike Harwood (left) won last year’s finale at the same course for his first European Senior Tour victory. The winner of the 1990 Volvo Masters at Valderrama and the Volvo PGA Championship that same year, in his best season on the main European Tour, Harwood – now 51 – was named 2009 Senior Tour Rookie of the Year.

Sam Torrance (below) finished third at the Mediterráneo to finish atop the 2009 European Senior order of merit for a third time.

ALSO ON THE COAST:

♦ The Spanish Women’s Open – part of the Ladies European Tour – will be held at Flamingos Golf from 16 to 19 September.

♦ The inaugural Andalucía Valderrama Masters will be held at Valderrama from 28 to 31 October. Valderrama has not hosted a Tour event since the 21st and final Volvo Masters in 2008. This will be the second European Tour event on the Coast in 2010, following the Open de Andalucía at the Parador in March. The Volvo World Match Play Championship, held at Finca Cortesín in October-November 2009, skips a year and moves to a new date in May 2011.