Barbados to bring belated bow for Sean

11/04/2024

PGA Professional Sean Whiffin is preparing to make his belated Legends Tour debut at the start of May in the Barbados Legends hosted by Ian Woosnam.

Whiffin, who is attached to the Hertfordshire Golf & Country Club, earned his playing rights on the over-50s circuit by finishing second at Qualifying School – in January 2023!

But early last spring the 53-year-old north Londoner suffered a torn tendon in his left elbow that ruled him out of tournament golf for the rest of the year.

Whiffin said: “I had tennis elbow, but I thought I’d just strained it, so I kind of carried on hitting a few balls and it didn’t go away.

“The next day was the same – then it started to get really painful. I couldn’t hit a golf ball at all. It was like a knife was being stuck in my arm.”

The flare-up became so bad that he could not lift a cup of tea without experiencing a stabbing sensation around the elbow joint.

Physiotherapy and specialists’ treatment failed to produce a quick fix before an MRI scan confirmed the tendon tear.

And it was last April during yet another visit to a physio that Whiffin realised the full implications of the injury.

“He said, ‘This is going to take at least a year to clear up, by the way’,” outlined Whiffin. ‘That’s when I kind of knew I had a problem.”

It was a hammer blow for the Enfield-based golfer, who had been eagerly anticipating life on the Legends Tour.

Whiffin said: “I was completely deflated. I’d just got my card, I was nice and confident, playing well and had the rug pulled from under my feet, really.

“Once I knew the game was up, as it were, I just kind of relaxed and did other things. I’ve had loads of physio and just worked on getting it better so I can play this year.”

It was late August before Whiffin was able to pick up a club, starting back with gentle pitching. Sean went step-by-step through the comeback process and it was only towards the end of 2023 that he began to play a full round again.

The return to competitive action finally came with a three-round invitational tournament in Portugal at the start of 2024.

His elbow stood up to that rigorous test, albeit by the end of the week there was a little bit of soreness.

Now, after a recent bout of illness, he is planning to sharpen his game on home soil in April before taking on the star names of the Legends Tour from May 3-5 in the Caribbean.

Whiffin said: “I need to get a card in my hand. I’ll be fine once I get going, but I kind of almost need to remember that I play golf. It feels a bit like that – I need to get into that ‘pro’ mind-set again.”

Barbados will be the first event of what’s set to be a full schedule on the Legends Tour for Whiffin through 2024.

He said: “The Tour has been good. They gave me the same category that I had last year, category 7. They just added me on as if I played in the Tour school this year.”

It’s now about staying injury-free for Whiffin, who can’t wait to get going at last at the high end of senior professional golf.

He added: “I’m trying to be really careful what I do physically. No banana skins!”