Peter Senior did it his way. And it worked.
He won 34 times as a professional. The 57-year-old won 23 times in Australia, including the Australian PGA, Open and Masters after the age of 50. He also won on the European and Japanese Tours.
His wins stretched five decades, a mark of his longevity and resilience.
He was not the most attractive golfer on tour, nor was his game one of the most pure, but what he lacked in natural aesthetics he made up in fight.
Senior is, as he has been for much of his career, shorter than most and stockier than many. He was less a sportsman, and more a golfer.
He had chipping problems, putting problems, and tinkered with this swing on more than one occasion, but he always found a way to survive.
When he struggled with his short game around the greens, he reverted to the unconventional cross hand grip. When the short putter went cold, he picked up the broomstick and never let it go until the rules said he had to.
For many golfing purists, the broomstick putter was always an impostor. Senior clearly didn’t care. He kept using it anyway.
But to label Peter Senior a fighter and a survivor is to sell him short. He was also a damn good golfer. He still is.
I write this as a fan, not a golfer – certainly not a good one anyway. At 24 years his junior, I missed half his career, but it was him that I noticed most when I saw golf for the first time on TV.
In between vision of Australian greats such as Greg Norman and Ian Baker Finch, who also happened to be long, strong and lean, stood a little man, with a big putter.
I’d never seen anything like it.
He also wore a big, wide brimmed hat and had a moustache. To me, he looked like a magician waving his big wand on Australia’s best golf courses.
And so it was that I became a Peter Senior fan, watching him play and often watching him win.
I watched him on TV and when I could, I followed him in the galleries. There were a few occasions when it was just myself, his coach and his wife tracking around with him and then there were other times, like last year’s Australian Masters, when he was the star attraction on the back nine on Sunday.
The crowds were big, loud and barracking for Peter Senior.
He was what so many Aussies love.
A battler. A fighter. A competitor. A survivor. A winner. And more recently, an underdog against the next wave of young, strong, athletic Australian golfers.
He was the little bloke with the big putter.
A victory on American soil always eluded him, even when he joined the Champions Tour after his 50th birthday. He came second six times and lost three play offs. His son caddied for him.
Perhaps that’s why his wins in Australia as a 50-something were so special to him. He knew he was still good enough. He just wanted to prove it to everyone else too.
Before the start of this year’s Australian Open he had announced that he would retire following the Australian PGA in December. Injuries had begun to take their toll.
I was planning to fly up to the Gold Coast to watch his final rounds, but alas I now have less incentive to go.
Just six holes in to his second round at the Australian Open last week, Peter Senior shook hands with his playing partners and bid the game a fond farewell.
He had retired just a third of the way through his second round. He was injured and couldn’t go on.
It was an abrupt end to a long career. The fact that he’d ended his career-mid round caught a few by surprise, but perhaps it shouldn’t have.
Just as he had done throughout his entire career, Peter Senior did it his way.
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