Million euro Denis

By Brian Keogh

Cork's Denis O’Sullivan will become the first Irishman to break the €1 million barrier in career earnings on the European Seniors Tour this week.

The former amateur international, 59, has earned €999,056 since he gave up top amateur golf for a shot at the over 50s pro tour in 1998.

Since then he has won six times on the European Seniors Tour and will go past the million euro barrier in €500,000 Kingdom of Bahrain Seniors Tour Championship at the Buckinghamshire this week.

With 42nd and last place paying €1,742, O'Sullivan will become the sixth member of the European Seniors Tour millionaire's club.

England’s Carl Mason (€1.62m), Tommy Horton (€ 1.51m), Australia’s Noel Ratcliffe (1.23m), plus England’s Jim Rhodes (1.04m) and Nick Job (1.03m) have already made seven figures in Europe.

Looking forward to joining them, O'Sullivan said: "I’m still hanging in there – and should I crawl the course around this week, I’ll pass it. I’ve been waiting the whole year to do it.

"The Seniors Tour has been great for me and I feel like a millionaire already. I’ve been blessed to enjoy a fabulous 10 years playing golf on this Tour across the world.

"I’m already looking forward to next year because I think I can do even better. That’s a nice feeling to have when you’re 59."

Des Smyth and Eamonn Darcy also tee it up at The Buckinghamshire where Mason is bidding to win his sixth title of the season.

Smyth is the top earning Irish Senior with $4,177,553 on the US Champions Tour since 2002.