In a deserved case of "back to the future", Woodbrook - a venue which pioneered professional tournament golf in Ireland by staging the Carrolls International on 10 occasions from 1963, and the revived Irish Open in 1975 - will stage the AIB Irish Senior Open on May 15th to 17th.

Woodbrook has been substantially redesigned over the past two years by course architect Peter McEvoy, and the decision to award the senior event is a fitting reward for the club members' determination to upgrade the facility. Last year's inaugural event, won by Tommy Horton, took place at St Margaret's.

The Irish Senior Open will be a 54-holes tournament and will be the third event on the circuit, coming a week after the Turkish Open, while the British Seniors Open will again be staged at Royal Portrush on August 6th to 9th.

This season's PGA European Seniors' Tour schedule will stretch from May until mid-November, and includes six new tournaments: the El Bosque Senior Open, the Divonne Senior Open, the Golden Charter Senior Open, the Efteling Senior Masters, the Italian Senior Open and the Is Molas Senior Open. There is an increase in prize money of 24 per cent from last season to £2.75 million. "This positive announcement will give even greater encouragement to those players contemplating joining the Seniors Tour, in particular the likes of Christy O'Connor Jnr and Peter Oosterhuis who reach the age of 50 this year," said Andy Stubbs, managing director of the PGA European Seniors Tour.

He continued: "As we approach the year 2000, we anticipate further opportunities developing with ultimately a team match against the Americans recreating great duels of the past."