Leonard Owens will be 50 on June 21st, which means that he is set to follow his illustrious predecessor into senior ranks. In fact the move comes almost 24 years since he took over from Christy O'Connor Snr as the club professional at Royal Dublin, in November 1975.
Owens hopes to make his debut in the Senior British Open on July 22nd to 25th at Royal Portrush, where he will have to come through a pre-qualifying stage. And it will be his first competitive outing on the renowned Dunluce links since he played there as an amateur in 1970.
That was in the North of Ireland Championship in which he reached the semi-finals, only to be beaten by the eventual winner, Johnny Faith. As it happened, Faith beat Roddy Carr at the 20th hole of the final.
As professionals two years later, Owens and Carr would meet in the final of the Carrolls Matchplay Championship at Douglas where a 4 and 2 victory brought him a cheque for £500, the largest of what was then a blossoming tournament career.
From then until 1975, Owens gained plenty of pre-qualifying experience while competing on the European Tour, recording a best performance of fifth behind Simon Owen in the 1974 German Open. Incidentally, his last-round partner on that occasion was British Ryder Cup player Peter Oosterhuis, now a television pundit with the CBS network.
"My understanding from the tour is that I am eligible to accept invitations into tournaments from my birthday until the end of the season," said Owens yesterday. "I will then go to the tour school with a view to gaining a card for next season. I love competitive golf and if all goes well, I'll be doing what Christy did."
Owens reckons he has played at some stage with just about every player currently on the Seniors' Tour, with the exception of former amateur international Denis O'Sullivan. "The reason I quit the regular tour when I did was because I knew there were guys out there that I simply couldn't beat: I didn't hit the ball far enough." But he added with a grin: "The difference now is that they're older and I think I'm fitter than them."
Owens doesn't expect the European Seniors Tour to take off in earnest until players like Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Sandy Lyle and Ian Woosnam become eligible. In the meantime, if he gets his card he will play about 10 tournaments next season, while holding down his job at Royal Dublin. As it happened, O'Connor was much more active on the circuit when he, too, combined both jobs.
O'Connor, who was 50 on December 21st 1974, competed the following year in what was then a very restricted senior scene. His breakthrough came in the 1976 PGA Seniors Championship, an event he went on to win a total of six times.
Now, his nephew, Christy Jnr, is maintaining the family tradition. Junior reached senior status last August and his next assignment is the USPGA Seniors' Championship at Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, on April 15th to 18th. Like Bernard Gallacher, he received an invitation into the field, in keeping with the American policy of giving opportunities to distinguished senior rookies.
O'Connor Jnr was to have attempted to gain American playing rights in last autumn's tour school until the tragedy of his son Darren's death in a car crash. "The American tour is obviously where the real seniors action is and I hope to try at the end of this season," he said.
In the meantime, his activities this season will be split between his course architecture business and competing on the European Seniors Tour. "My latest project is a new course situated on the far side of Malaga from the Costa del Sol," he said.
The lure of senior professional competition caused Declan Branigan to forfeit his amateur status when he tried unsuccessfully for a card in last autumn's qualifying school. And though he will be reinstated in May, Branigan will have to wait a further month for his championship return. That will be on June 5th to 7th in the East of Ireland, which he won in 1981 and 1995.
