Christy O'Connor Jnr marvelled at the competitiveness of his 63-year-old playing partners, Bob Charles and Gary Player, when capturing the British Senior Open at Royal Portrush on Sunday. But he has no wish to try and emulate their longevity in the game.
"Their enthusiasm is incredible, but I can't see myself hanging on that long," said O'Connor yesterday. "I would like to get out at about 55 and maybe do something around golf, possibly with juniors."
He went on: "Ideally, I would like to have five good years as a senior and then play some tournaments. But not a full schedule. I wouldn't really care what sort of involvement it was, provided it allowed me to be around golfing people."
O'Connor's performance in shooting a six-under-par aggregate for a three-stroke triumph last Sunday was clearly impressive, especially when one considers an overall length of the course of 6,692 yards - the equivalent of the medal tees. But the general quality of his play at senior level this year has been nothing short of remarkable.
In 31 tournament rounds from a total of nine events in the US and over here, he has broken 70 on no fewer than 12 occasions. And he has twice shot 65, in the final round of the Home Depot Invitational in April and on the opening day of his victory surge in the State Farm Senior Classic on July 2nd.
He made all nine cuts; had four top-10 finishes including a victory and had a highest round of 77 on the opening day of the US Senior Open on July 8th. And he has twice strung three sub-70 rounds together, in the 54-hole State Farm event and over the final 54 holes at Royal Portrush last weekend. It is some time since any Irish player has achieved such splendid consistency in the professional game.
In fact in general terms, the younger brigade could learn quite a lot from the determination of their senior brethren, who clearly appreciate their second chance at success. In that context, it made a welcome change to see six Irishmen in the top-25 last Sunday.
Liam Higgins could consider himself unfortunate not to have been among them, given a wretched nine at the treacherous par-four fourth during his final round, when he lost two balls. And Denis O'Sullivan battled to a share of 20th place, despite a decidedly bleak weekend with the blade.
Meanwhile, Eddie Polland, whose closing 67 contained an eagle and four birdies, was convinced he knew the secret to O'Connor's success. "It's Brian Smallwood, my old caddie from Bangor," he said. "He's obviously doing a great job for Christy."
For his part, O'Connor seems quite capable of looking after himself. Examples of superb ball-striking were a splendid drive followed by a three-wood of 250 yards which finished just short of the 528-yard 17th for a two-putt birdie. But the real revelation was his putting.
"If you continue to putt like that, you're going to win a lot of tournaments," Player told him when they finished. Looking at the fluency of O'Connor's stroke, one could hardly imagine that only a few years ago, he turned to the broomhandle putter in desperation at this lack of success on the greens.
Ideally, this week's Energis Senior Masters, which starts at Wentworth on Friday, would be seen locally as an occasion to celebrate Bernard Gallacher's ascent to senior ranks. But O'Connor can be expected to challenge strongly for the first prize of £25,000.
Then he resumes his US campaign and the pursuit of really serious cash in the $1.2 million Lightpath Long Island Classic; followed by the $1 million Foremost Insurance Championship; the $1.2 million BankBoston Classic; the $1.35 million AT&T Canada Senior Open and the $1.2 million Kansas City Classic. And one suspects the best is yet to come.
