Golf - Gary looks forward to US Seniors debut (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Golf - Gary looks forward to US Seniors debut

2:18pm Tuesday 19th April 2011 in Sport

IT was back to where it all began for British amateur golf legend Gary Wolstenholme.

Gary returned to Grange Fell Club Golf, where he started playing golf as a toddler in the mid-1960s, for an invitation round with club president Richard Tyler and members Nigel Higginson and Alan Johnston.

Gary, twice a winner of the English Amateur Open and victor over Tiger Woods in a Walker Cup, was just aged four when his mother took him to the course for tuition from local professional Fred Robinson, and began playing with three cut-down clubs - a putter, a 7-iron and a 5-wood.

He said: “It’s always been good to go back and play the course over the years as it holds great memories.

“It’s a very friendly place and quite a few members turned out to watch us go round and there was a lot of reminiscing.

“People don’t seem to consider a 9-hole golf club to be a serious place to play, but Grange Fell has lots going for it.

“The views looking over the Bay are some of the most stunning natural scenic views.

“It’s absolutely heart-lifting, so my advice to any golfer would be - go there and play it at least once.”

Gary is just successfully recovering from a wrenched neck that forced him to pull out of a seniors tour event in Bruneii.

After physio treatment, he was back competing a week later and managed to finish 16th in the ISPS Handa Senior World Championship in China.

He said: “It's still a bit sore but not inihibiting me from a full swing anymore.”

Fortunately there is a break in the calendar before the Spanish Senior Open in Murcia on May 18-20.

From there it’s on to the US Senior PGA Championships at Valhalla in Louisville, Kentucky, on May 26-29.

“That will be the first Major I will have played in since I joined the seniors tour, so that is something special to look forward to.”