Paul Eales, multiple Tour winner, Broadcaster, Coach and European Tour Board Member, gives an exclusive interview to ONPAR Magazine at The Senior Open.
Paul Eales, multiple Tour winner, Broadcaster, Coach and European Tour Board Member, gives an exclusive interview to ONPAR Magazine at The Senior Open.
17 years playing on the European Tours with 3 wins, 11 Major Tournament appearances including 8 British Opens and the US Open, Eales is back on home turf at the famous Fylde Coast Championship course, Royal Lytham.
You started at Royal Lytham as Assistant Pro, how does it feel to be back?
Yeah its strange really because seeing people that were the younger generation when I was a young lad and now we’re all older, I’m older, it’s nice to see familiar faces and of course coming back to the golf course I loved to play at the end of the shift, it’s just special, magical.
When was the last time you played on this course then?
About two years ago. I came over with a couple of members and Eddie Birchenough my old boss, I played with them so that was nice and we played off the tee’s that I remember playing off and I found out on Tuesday there are some tees that are new which I’ve never actually played off so, that’s interesting.
How are you feeling about the game today then?
Good, yeah I’m really looking forward to it, I’ve got my son Josh on the bag, so it’s a family thing and we’re really looking forward to going out and playing.
The Senior Open back on home turf, in Lytham, how great is that for the area?
Well, it’s brilliant. It’s such a wonderful golf course, it’s got all the history and tradition. And to think that the world of over 50’s golf is here this week is great.
There’s a buzz in the town and of course, we’ve just seen a bus of people coming from the public car park, so there’s going to be a lot of spectators out here who are coming to see all the names from 20, 30 years ago.
I grew up watching these names like Tom Watson on the tv and now we’re playing with them.
Who do you think is up there for this week?
It’s difficult to say, you have to look at all the big names, Langer is always there, Jimenez is defending and he’s a great player. I would look for one of the big names but as we’ve seen from the Senior PGA I played in back in May, there’s a chap called Ken Tanigawa who went on to win and I’m playing with him in the next two rounds.
You just never know, particularly on a course like this that’s so difficult, there’s a lot of patience required, which I’m hoping to find a shop to go buy some!
Have you had a good season so far?
It’s been mixed. I’ve played okay without any really good results, but we’ve been around long enough to know that its just a putt here and a putt there. I’m continuing to play alright, it’s just waiting for that week where the putts drop.
Are you working on your slippery putts then?
I’m working on them yeah! With this wind today there’s bound to be one or two slippery ones in but looking at the flags its slightly different from practice so it’ll kind of be a different course to the one I usually play.
