Complete guide to the ISPS HANDA Senior Open

There’s a rare opportunity for an Australasian double this week as the ISPS HANDA Senior Open returns to the King’s Course at Gleneagles.

Fresh on the heels of Ryan Fox’s victory at The Open Championship, the world’s best senior golfers are teeing it up in Scotland this week in search of the Senior Open Trophy, with 14 Australasians in the field.

There were four Australians and a New Zealander that finished inside the top ten behind eventual winner Padraig Harrington at last year’s edition at Sunningdale, with Scott Hend finishing the week as the highest-ranked in fourth place.

Cameron Percy, Stephen Allan, Greg Chalmers and Kiwi Steven Alker each earned a place in this year’s field by way of their top-10 performances last season.

Hend will tee it up in his fourth Senior Open, just a few months removed from his maiden PGA TOUR Champions victory at the Trophee Hassan II in Morocco. The 52-year-old is currently 11th on the Charles Schwab Cup Standings and he has finished first, second and third in last three starts.

“Hopefully I’ll go a couple of spots better than last year and play solid. It’s always exciting to play an R&A championship, so we’ll see what happens,” he said.

“I’ve been playing nice, I just had some driver issues where I had a driver break and then had one stolen out my bag on the way here from the States. So we’ll see if we can get around with the one that I have got.

“My next goal is to try and win a Senior Major at some point in time. To get on any trophy would be great, but to get on this one would be good because then I’d be at St Andrews next year. That would be a nice little bonus.”

Alker, a two-time winner of the Charles Schwab Cup and winner of the Senior PGA Championship in 2022, is one place ahead of Hend in the season-long standings in 10th place.

Michael Campbell, who before Fox’s victory on Sunday was the last New Zealander to win a men’s Major Championship, is one of 15 Major winners in the 144-player field, which also includes 29 Ryder Cup players.

Richard Green, Stuart Appleby, Mark Brown, Mark Hensby, Michael Wright and Rod Pampling are also in the field, with Mathew Goggin and Michael Long successfully navigating Monday Qualifying earlier this week to secure their place in the final men’s Senior Major Championship of the season.

ISPS HANDA Senior Open

King’s Course, The Gleneagles Hotel, Perthshire, Scotland

Recent champion: Padraig Harrington

Past Aussie winners: Ian Stanley (2001)

Prize money: US$2.85 million

TV times: Live 10:30 pm-4 am Friday-Sunday on Fox Sports 505 and Kayo Sports.

Round One tee times (local BST)

Mark Brown: 07:02

Michael Wright: 07:46

Cameron Percy: 08:24

Michael Campbell: 08:35

Stephen Allan: 10:41