Luna landing at Mottram Hall
15/05/2013
Santiago Luna may be closing in on his 600th European Tour appearance, but the Spaniard has other targets on his horizon as he prepares to embark on a new career on the European Senior Tour.
Luna turned 50 last November, thus just missing out on the 2012 Senior Tour season, so he has been carefully biding his time for the chance to join the many other former European Tour winners now plying their trade on the Senior Tour.
He is due to make his debut in the ISPS Handa PGA Seniors Championship at De Vere Mottram Hall next month, but first he returns to European Tour action this week at the Madeira Islands Open – Portugal – BPI, the tournament at which he earned his sole European Tour win in 1995.
That will be his 596th event on The European Tour, meaning he is just one tournament short of Senior Tour player Gordon Brand Jnr who occupies eighth position on the list of career appearances.
Having made his European Tour debut in 1984, Luna is now looking forward to being a ‘rookie’ once again on the over 50s circuit.
“I cannot wait to play in the Senior Tour,” he said. “It is my place now. I have been playing with the younger guys and seeing the distances they hit and how well they play and that just confirms that it is my time now to join the Senior Tour.
“It’s a different environment on the Senior Tour - a nice friendly environment. I have been playing on The European Tour for nearly 30 years and the experience was fantastic, but the last couple of years it was starting to become more difficult because you are always trying to do well and be competitive, but the line is getting further away.
“Now it is time to be with my friends, on my natural level with players of the same age. I'm really happy to be starting there soon.
“I would love to get a couple more wins for my career but it is not easy to win on the Senior Tour, I know that.
“You can see even the older guys are still playing really great golf, nothing comes easy. The standard is really high.
“These people have been playing competitively all of their lives so they know how to play the game, that’s for sure.”
Luna, who defeated Tiger Woods in the semi-final of the 1998 Alfred Dunhill Cup at St Andrews to help Spain reach the final against South Africa, is also looking forward to making his debut in the Senior Open Championship Presented by Rolex from July 25-28.
