At 5.25pm AEST yesterday, Peter Senior sunk a pressure-laden eight-foot putt to be the clubhouse leader of the Australian Masters at Huntingdale.
Fifteen minutes later, journeyman Andrew Evans had a 24-footer to force a play-off.
It was a career-defining moment.
But for some unaccountable reason, Evans was four-foot short, and three-putted to fall into a three-way tie for second with John Senden and US amateur champion Bryson DeChambeau.
Evans was devastated, Senior was his usual humble self.
He had just completed a stunning trifecta that no other golfer in the world had achieved, winning his country’s three major tournaments in his 50s.
Senior won his third Australian PGA at 51, his second Australian Open at 53, and yesterday his third Australian Masters at 56.
And it couldn’t have happened to a better bloke.
He started the day two shots adrift of 54-hole leader Matthew Millar, and one behind Evans.
Senior had a stunning start with birdies at the first two holes, but gave them both back at the fourth and fifth, then birdied six and seven.
The tap in birdie at 10 gave the veteran the outright lead, and another birdie at 15 was a bonus, only to give one back at 17.
But Senior is made of stern stuff, honed over four decades. His approach to the last hole was bunkered, and he exploded out to eight feet.
The rest is history as he donned his third gold jacket, rating his son and caddy Mitchell as indispensable.
Senior will tee off at the Australian this week at the Open, and Royal Pines next week for the PGA, but he doesn’t feel as confident on the two longer courses.
“They will probably destroy me,” Senior predicted, but nobody believes him.
The successful father and son combination head back to the US Champions Tour in February, before he hangs up his clubs at the elite level.
“It’s time I stayed at home,” Senior said, and nobody believes that either, he’s still an elite golfer with a deep competitive streak.
Adam Scott can take a leaf out of the Peter Senior book, who is 21 years older.
After being 11-under at the 27th hole, Scott was nine-over for the next 27, and yesterday needed a 63 or 64 to have any chance of winning his third gold jacket. Scott birdied four and five, and gave them both back with a double at seven.
Scott finished with a 69, four shots off the Senior pace.
Scott will no doubt be drawn with defending champion Jordan Spieth at the Australian Open, but he’ll need to be a lot more focused if he’s to be on the same page as the world number one.
The final leaderboard
8-under – Peter Senior 70 70 68 68
6-under – Bryson DeChambeau (a) 69 70 72 67
John Senden 69 68 71 70
Andrew Evans 68 69 70 71
4-under – Adam Scott 64 70 77 69
3-under – Richard Green 72 70 71 68
Brett Runford 72 64 74 71
Alistair Presnell 68 71 71 71
Matthew Guyatt 69 66 73 73
Michael Sim 71 69 68 73
Matthew Millar 71 67 68 75
***
In Dubai, Rory McIlroy saved his best for the weekend to win the Race to Dubai for the third time in four years, and Europe’s World Tour Championship.
In-form Englishman Andy Sullivan held a shot lead going into the final round, and both started with a birdie blitz – Sullivan four in the first six, and McIlroy four and a bogey in the first seven.
But McIlroy came home in 33 to Sullivan’s 35, and the one-shot victory – 21-under to 20-under.
Overall, McIlroy fired in 26 birdies with five bogeys, Sullivan an eagle with 21 birdies and just three bogeys – great golf on a tough course.
But what stood out in the elite 60-strong field was the dominance of 20-somethings – seven in the top nine,
McIlroy’s 26, Sullivan 29, third-placed Brandon Grace 27, Byeong Hun An 24, rookie Matthew Fitzpatrick 21, Emiliano Grillo 23, Francesco Molinari 33, Charl Schwartzel 31, and Danny Willett 28.
It sets up a fascinating majors season next year with Masters and US Open champion Jordan Spieth at 22, and PGA champion Jason Day at 27.
The final Dubai leaderboard
21-under – Rory McIlroy 68 68 65 66
20-under – Andy Sullivan 66 66 68 68
15-under – Brandon Grace 68 69 69 67
13-under – Byeong Hun An 70 68 66 71
Matthew Fitzpatrick 68 69 68 70
Emiliano Grillo 69 64 71 71
Francesco Molinari 67 71 69 68
Charl Schwartzel 71 65 70 69
Danny Willett 68 70 67 70
kevin
Guest
Absolutely and its not as if we don't have the corporations to support it, its just a matter of them being tight , that's all
Johnno
Guest
It is statistically rare Professor, so it's not the first time, but it's far from common. Peter Senior's effort, and other examples you mention are the extreme mionority of statistics when you think off all the competitive athletes at any given time in pro sport.
Professor Rosseforp
Guest
"Peter Senior sunk a pressure-laden eight-foot putt" i.e., "sank a pressure-laden putt" -- sub-editor, please! The guy is not exactly an old-age pensioner. He's only 56. Joe Hockey (and other pollies) would love to see him working until he's at least 70. This is not unknown in golf, as Gary Player took part in 46 consecutive British Open tournaments. 56 years is about the length of Stanley Matthews' football career (last competitive match in 1985, at age 70, although he did give up first division at age 50), and 5 years younger than Cliff Young when he won an ultra-marathon against much younger competitors. W.G. Grace, at the same age as Peter Senior, played 15 first class cricket matches, top-scoring with 166, and scoring over 600 runs and taking more than 20 wickets. Lester Piggott eventually retired (finally) at age 60 -- still riding winners. So Peter Senior's accomplishment is excellent, but let's not confine him to the nursing home just yet!
David Lord
Expert
World number one Jordan Spieth today complimented Peter Senior on his win, saying when he's 56 he won't have Peter's passion for golf and would rather be on a beach somewhere, having a beer. "What Peter did was really cool," was Spieth's final word.
Johnno
Guest
+1 Agreed Kevin. OZ Golf deserves so much better, like the glory days. I can remember when Tiger Woods came out for the Greg Norman Holden Classic.
kevin
Guest
It seems to me we are surrounded by tight ass corporations that refuse to put any money into decent prize pools.. The commonwealth bank for example makes about 8$ billion per annum in profits, but cant we cant put up a prize purse of 4 - 6 million, Nedbank fund the sun city tournament and the winners cheque alone is nearly our whole purse.. tragic!!!!!!!!!!
Johnno
Guest
I really enjoyed a nice little moment on day 2 on Friday. Baker-Finch and Wayne Grady were commentating, and the playing group was "Craig Parry/Peter Senior/Peter Lonard", real old school, the commentators you could feel were actually out there as they all know each other so well, same generation. Wayne Grady said, he first played a game of golf with Peter Senior when Senior was 13 in 1972, flashback memories. Senior will qualify for the (HSBC Champions 2016) World Golf Championship, but not any majors as a result of his win.
Patrick Effeney
Editor
Senden, Scotty, Bowditch are all high, high quality players - top 20 USPGA players in the case of Steve and Scotty, but the Open this week has a far superior field.
Geoff Parkes
Expert
David, like I said, no knock on Senior, he played superbly and deserves everything he gets. But the field was below ordinary. I usually go a day or two to the big Melbourne tournaments, and with a break in the cricket series was all set to go on Thursday, even more keen than usual after going around Huntingdale myself a couple of weeks ago. But I looked up the field on Wednesday, to plan who to follow for the day, and I really struggled to get interested. I'm happy not to follow the marquee groups - they draw the big crowds and allow you to get up close with the next tier, but that tier just wasn't there. And frankly, with the course presented so well, the greens not lightning fast, and not much wind around, the scoring reflected the lack of depth and quality. Did you see also the flashbacks to prior years, Baker-Finch, Norman, Senior, Brad Hughes etc all playing into the 18th green, framed by massive grandstands and jam packed crowds? This tournament was like turning up to a school reunion, looking at an old girlfriend and discovering that things aren't quite as good as what you remember.
David Lord
Expert
For those Roarers who didn't rate the field, and reckoned nobody outside Australia would care, the USPGA website, widely read worldwide by multi-millions of golfers, gave Peter Senior a big rap, under the heading "Senior wins Australian Masters at age 56". In the 19-par piece, Senior was congratulated on becoming the oldest Masters champion, three years after being the oldest Australian Open winner, and winning the Australian PGA at age 51. Senior could only beat what's in front of him, and seeing he's ranked 755 in the world, and most of the field own better rankings than him, it was a bloody magnificent effort.
Johnno
Guest
chives good points, the aussie tour still has hope, it was a good atmosphere on the weekend, watching on TV and I'm not even a big golf fan. I'd like something where any winner of the Aust Masters/Open/or PGA, gets automatic qualification for the majors, not just the end of year world championship. Ramp up the motivation, that will lift the intensity even more.
chivasdude
Guest
A great win by evergreen Peter Senior. Well done Pete! The Old Pro really showed the youngsters how to close the deal down the stretch. Yes this was a shallow field, but it did include regular Us tour players like Adam Scott and John Senden. It also included (or should have) the cream of the rising Aussie crop. The facts are that Senior beat them all. You can only beat who is in front t of you (as they say). The real issue is what to do with the Aussie circuit. The tournaments, while having history and prestige, are in the wrong time of the year and have not enough prize money. We really need these tournaments to be associated with the Euro PGA (which some used to be) and/or a combination of the US PGA/Web.com tour. This will attract better players hopefully ad more prize money. Otherwise, I feat the relevance of Aussie tournaments going forward.
Johnno
Guest
Martos whatever else, Senior's win was a good promotion for Golf in OZ. This result attracted a wider audience like the glory days of Australian Golf 1970's/80's/90's, it was hip to watch Golf again, something the Australian tour could with and golf in general in OZ.
Martos
Guest
We have some of the best golfers in the world. The reason tournaments struggle in this country is b/c we are competing with 3 bigger tours. I doubt whether we will see the Masters in its current format again. I am hoping that the tournaments in Australia merge with the Euro tour. If they dot I fear for their future. Well done Mr Senior however it reflects the poor field.
Geoff Parkes
Expert
Johnno, I agree that what Senior did is fantastic, turning the clock back like that and playing so well to win it. I was cheering for him as much as the next guy. But "this win will really rock the golf world"???? Not a chance. Overnight, Rory McIlroy won the Race to Dubai, and Lydia Ko, now 18 years old, just banked another US$1M, and that's not even mentioning the US PGA Tour. Senior's win will be seen, if it is noticed at all, as a curiosity, and a reflection of what was a very shallow field.
no one in particular
Roar Guru
The field was a good one? One player in the World Top 50. Another two from the World Top 100. One of those had finished under par once in his last 5 events, the other had finished inside the top 25 twice since May. Who else made it a good field? World #113 George McNeil? Cameron Smith has talent, but he is far from making this field good. Despite the players missing, this result is a sad indictment on the state of Australian golf. Thank god we have Spieth to look forward to this week
Johnno
Guest
Oh, and 5 guys in the field made a total of $13mill on tour this year. The field was good, Senior was the best player over the 4 days, simple.
Johnno
Guest
I watched about the last hour of play,and I'm not even a regular golf fan. But honestly, this is one of the best moments in Australian sport in the last 30-35 years 1980-2015. A 56yr old in the modern pro world(sports science/nutrition/gyms/video analysis/fittness trainers/technology etc), overall helps the younger players more. You look at the chiselled fitness of Adam Scott, compared to Peter Senior, it's like there in different worlds,like Peter Senior is a throwback from another era. Modern golf players look like elite athletes, Peter Senior is old school where the gap between amateur and pro seemed closer. To do what he did his betting odds were 80/1 was a massive feat. This win will really rock the golf world. Jack Nickalus is the oldest US open masters winner age 46 in 1986. Hale Irwin won the US open aged 45 in 1990. But this win by Peter Senior aged 56, what an achievement, it's a real big deal, and will have golf experts all around the World shaking there heads how he did it,especially when you put into the context the modern day athletsicm of todays golfers,and Pete isn't getting any younger. What a win, truly up there with any of the great sporting upsets in the last 50 or so years, it's a massive achievement, make no bones about it.