Christy O'Connor Jnr looks likely to be spending most of his future career in the United States, and he may not even require a visit to the Seniors' Tour qualifying school in November to secure his ticket to the megabucks Over 50s circuit.
O'Connor made the most of his sponsor's invite to the Home Depot Invitational at the TPC in Piper Glen, North Carolina, last weekend by finishing in tied-fourth position and collecting a cheque for $59,200. Although he is not competing in this week's US Seniors Tour event in Alabama, O'Connor has won $64,100 from his two appearances in the US and, with the prospect of further invites during the season, he may win enough prizemoney to avoid a trip to their qualifying school at the end of the season.
The Piper Glen event was won by Bruce Fleisher, his third win and sixth top-three finish from just seven starts this season. O'Connor finished in a tie for fourth with Allen Doyle and DeWitt Weaver - but could have increased his share of the prizefund if an eagle putt on the last had dropped. "It had a double break to it, and five feet out I said it was all over the hole. It's a pity," remarked O'Connor who had started the day at two-under-par but birdied the first and eagled the second on his way to a closing 65 which propelled him through the field. O'Connor's last win on the European Tour was the 1992 British Masters, but he seems destined for a new beginning on the Seniors circuit and he will be one of the main draws at the AIB Irish Seniors Open at Mount Juliet on May 14th-16th.
Meanwhile, Paul McGinley, who is very much in contention for a debut appearance in the Ryder Cup at Brookline in September, heads the Irish challenge in the Italian Open in Turin this week. McGinley, Padraig Harrington, Philip Walton, Eamonn Darcy and John McHenry are all competing in the €850,000 event which features a strong line-up that also includes US Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal, Bernhard Langer and Lee Janzen.
McGinley's tied-second place finish in the Spanish Open has put him very much into the Ryder Cup picture, although the player himself is adopting a "one tournament at a time" philosophy. The Dubliner insists making the Ryder Cup team is just a "consequence of playing well in tournaments" and, so, his stated objective is to continue working on his game and let such consequences look after themselves. Currently, he is ninth in the Volvo Order of Merit and 11th in the Ryder Cup table.
Since his return to the tour after a seven-week break during which wife Alison gave birth to their first child Niamh, McGinley has finished in tied-34th in the Estoril Open and tied-second in the Spanish Open. He plays in Italy this week but then takes another week off (missing the Perrier Open in France) before a three-week stint that takes in the Benson and Hedges, the TPC of Europe and the Volvo PGA.
Elsewhere, Franics Howley, Raymond Burns and David Higgins will be among the competitors in the Valenica Challenge on the European Challenge Tour in Spain.
