Peter Senior

Peter Senior
OAM
Personal information
Full namePeter Albert Charles Senior
Born (1959-07-31) 31 July 1959 (age 65)
Singapore
Height1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Sporting nationality Australia
ResidenceHope Island, Australia
Career
Turned professional1978
Former tour(s)PGA Tour
European Tour
Japan Golf Tour
PGA Tour of Australasia
Champions Tour
European Senior Tour
Professional wins35
Highest ranking23 (28 November 1993)[1]
Number of wins by tour
European Tour4
Japan Golf Tour3
PGA Tour of Australasia21
European Senior Tour1
Other6
Best results in major championships
Masters TournamentT42: 1990
PGA ChampionshipT44: 1995
U.S. OpenCUT: 1990
The Open ChampionshipT4: 1993
Achievements and awards
PGA Tour of Australasia
Order of Merit winner		1987, 1989, 1993,
2012
PGA Tour of Australasia
Player of the Year		1993

Peter Albert Charles Senior OAM (born 31 July 1959) is an Australian professional golfer who has won more than twenty tournaments around the world.

Senior has competed mainly on the PGA Tour of Australasia, where he has had the most success and won the Order of Merit on four occasions, and the European Tour. He has also played occasionally on the Japan Golf Tour and the United States–based PGA Tour.

Senior has represented Australia in international competitions several times, and was a member of the International Team at the first two stagings of the Presidents Cup. He has also represented Australia twice at the World Cup.

Personal life

Senior was born in Singapore. He lives in Hope Island, Queensland, with his wife June, whom he married in 1984. They have three children: Krystlle, Jasmine and Mitchell.

In his spare time Peter enjoys fishing, reading and spending time with his family. Peter also owns various other businesses unrelated to his golfing career.

Professional career

Senior turned professional in 1978 and joined the PGA Tour of Australia, now the PGA Tour of Australasia. During his career, he has won 21 tournaments on the tour, including the Australian PGA Championship in 1989, 2003 and 2010, the Australian Open in 1989 and 2012, and the Australian Masters in 1991, 1995 and 2015. Senior has won professional events on the main men's tour in five separate decades, a feat achieved by very few players previously anywhere in the world. He also has the distinction of winning the Australian PGA, Open and Masters tournaments after he turned 50. He also topped the tour's Order of Merit in 1987, 1989 and 1993. Even after reaching the age of fifty, he remained competitive on the tour, through until his retirement from golf in 2016.[2][3]

Between 1984 and 1992, Senior competed on the European Tour full-time, winning four tournaments and finishing a career best of 7th on the Order of Merit in 1987. He also played regularly on the Japanese Tour, winning three tournaments before rejoining the European Tour in 1998.[4] Through the 2007 season he continued to play in a small number of tournaments on the tour.

In 1985, Senior finished 5th at the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament to earn his card for the following season. He did not have much success, making just two cuts in the first half of the season, before he elected to return to Europe. He did play in several PGA Tour events in other seasons, notably finishing tied for second in The International in 1990, but never tried to qualify for the tour again.

Senior made his debut on the over-50 circuit the Champions Tour in February 2010 at The ACE Group Classic. Senior has yet to win on the Champions Tour, but has finished as a runner up on six occasions, with three playoff defeats. One of these came in February 2012 at the Allianz Championship, when Senior birdied the final hole of regulation to make the playoff before losing to Corey Pavin with a birdie on the first playoff hole.

Senior announced his retirement during the second round of the 2016 Australian Open held at The Royal Sydney Golf Club. Senior suffered a hip injury on the sixth hole and announced his retirement from professional golf shortly after.

He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in the 2024 King's Birthday Honours for his service to golf.[5]

Professional wins (35)

European Tour wins (4)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner-up
1 10 Aug 1986 PLM Open −11 (69-72-64-68=273) 2 strokes Sweden Mats Lanner
2 27 Jun 1987 Johnnie Walker Monte Carlo Open −16 (66-63-65-66=260) 1 stroke Australia Rodger Davis
3 9 Sep 1990 Panasonic European Open −13 (67-68-66-66=267) 1 stroke Wales Ian Woosnam
4 10 May 1992 Benson & Hedges International Open −1 (74-73-70-70=287) Playoff Zimbabwe Tony Johnstone

European Tour playoff record (1–0)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 1992 Benson & Hedges International Open Zimbabwe Tony Johnstone Won with par on first extra hole

PGA of Japan Tour wins (3)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner(s)-up
1 19 Apr 1992 Bridgestone Aso Open −7 (70-70-70-71=281) 1 stroke Canada Rick Gibson
2 2 May 1993 The Crowns −10 (68-67-69-66=270) 1 stroke United States Gary Hallberg, Japan Masashi Ozaki
3 23 Apr 1995 Dunlop Open1 −9 (69-70-67-73=279) 5 strokes United States Brian Watts

1Co-sanctioned by the Asia Golf Circuit

PGA Tour of Australasia wins (21)

Legend
Flagship events (1)
Other PGA Tour of Australasia (20)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner(s)-up
1 25 Feb 1979 Dunhill South Australian Open −6 (70-72-70-70=282) Playoff Australia Graham Stevens (a)
2 14 Oct 1984 Stefan Queensland Open −6 (68-71-70-73=282) 7 strokes Australia Wayne Grady
3 25 Nov 1984 Honeywell Classic[a] −18 (71-70-67-66=274) 2 strokes Australia Ossie Moore
4 25 Jan 1987 U-Bix Classic[a] (2) −19 (67-65-72-69=273) 1 stroke Australia Gerry Taylor
5 1 Mar 1987 Rich River Classic −15 (62-68-71-72=273) 2 strokes Australia Mike Ferguson
6 18 Oct 1987 Queensland PGA Championship −10 (67-72-71-68=278) Playoff Australia Jeff Woodland
7 12 Nov 1989 Australian PGA Championship[a] −14 (67-68-68-71=274) 1 stroke United States Jim Benepe
8 3 Dec 1989 Australian Open −17 (66-66-69-70=271) 7 strokes Australia Peter Fowler
9 10 Dec 1989 Johnnie Walker Australian Classic −12 (65-72-70-69=276) 5 strokes Australia Greg Norman
10 17 Feb 1991 Pyramid Australian Masters −14 (68-71-69-70=278) 1 stroke Australia Greg Norman
11 8 Dec 1991 Johnnie Walker Australian Classic (2) −10 (66-71-72-73=282) 1 stroke Australia Rodger Davis, New Zealand Frank Nobilo
12 31 Jan 1993 Heineken Classic −13 (65-71-67-72=275) 3 strokes New Zealand Michael Campbell
13 27 Feb 1994 Canon Challenge −12 (68-67-72-69=276) Playoff Australia Chris Gray
14 19 Feb 1995 Australian Masters (2) −12 (69-70-72-69=280) 1 stroke Australia Wayne Grady, Australia Lucas Parsons,
United States Tom Watson
15 25 Feb 1996 Canon Challenge (2) −10 (70-72-67-69=278) 2 strokes Australia Robert Allenby, Australia Brad King,
Australia Robert Willis
16 1 Dec 1996 Greg Norman's Holden Classic −7 (69-73-69-70=281) 1 stroke Australia Greg Norman
17 23 Feb 1997 Canon Challenge (3) −14 (68-70-66-70=274) Playoff New Zealand Steven Alker
18 14 Dec 2003 Australian PGA Championship (2) −17 (64-65-69-73=271) 1 stroke Australia Rod Pampling
19 13 Dec 2010 Australian PGA Championship1[b] (3) −12 (70-67-68-71=276) Playoff Australia Geoff Ogilvy
20 9 Dec 2012 Emirates Australian Open1 (2) −4 (75-68-69-72=284) 1 stroke Australia Brendan Jones
21 22 Nov 2015 Uniqlo Masters (3) −8 (70-70-68-68=276) 2 strokes United States Bryson DeChambeau (a), Australia Andrew Evans,
Australia John Senden

1Co-sanctioned by the OneAsia Tour

PGA Tour of Australasia playoff record (5–1)

No. Year Tournament Opponent Result
1 1979 Dunhill South Australian Open Australia Graham Stevens (a) Won with birdie on first extra hole
2 1987 Queensland PGA Championship Australia Jeff Woodland Won with bogey on first extra hole
3 1993 Microsoft Australian Masters Australia Bradley Hughes Lost to par on first extra hole
4 1994 Canon Challenge Australia Chris Gray Won with birdie on first extra hole
5 1997 Canon Challenge New Zealand Steven Alker Won with birdie on fourth extra hole
6 2010 Australian PGA Championship Australia Geoff Ogilvy Won with par on second extra hole

Von Nida Tour wins (1)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner-up
1 20 Jul 2003 Queensland Masters −17 (67-67-70-67=271) Playoff Australia Paul Marantz

Other wins (3)

European Senior Tour wins (1)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runner-up
1 21 Nov 2010
(2011 season) 		Handa Australian Senior Open −9 (65-70-72=207) 3 strokes Scotland Sandy Lyle

PGA of Australia Legends Tour wins (2)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory 		Runners-up
1 20 Dec 2009 Australian PGA Seniors Championship −9 (72-63-72=207) 9 strokes Australia Larry Canning, Australia Mike Harwood
2 2 Nov 2019 Australian PGA Seniors Championship (2) −9 (69-67-65=201) 1 stroke Australia Peter Fowler, Australia Peter O'Malley

Playoff record

Champions Tour playoff record (0–3)

No. Year Tournament Opponent(s) Result
1 2011 Songdo IBD Championship United States Jay Don Blake, United States John Cook,
United States Mark O'Meara 		Blake won with birdie on fifth extra hole
O'Meara and Senior eliminated by par on third hole
2 2011 Regions Tradition United States Tom Lehman Lost to par on second extra hole
3 2012 Allianz Championship United States Corey Pavin Lost to par on first extra hole

Results in major championships

Tournament 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open
The Open Championship CUT T14 T44 CUT CUT 6 CUT
PGA Championship T58
Tournament 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
Masters Tournament T42
U.S. Open CUT
The Open Championship CUT T17 T25 T4 T20 T58 CUT T51 CUT
PGA Championship 62 CUT T48 T51 T71 T44 CUT
Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open
The Open Championship T72
PGA Championship
Tournament 2010 2011 2012 2013
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open
The Open Championship T60 T79
PGA Championship
  Top 10
  Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut (3rd round cut in 1979 Open Championship)
"T" = tied

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
The Open Championship 0 0 0 1 2 6 19 12
PGA Championship 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 6
Totals 0 0 0 1 2 6 29 19
  • Most consecutive cuts made – 8 (1992 Open Championship – 1995 PGA)
  • Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (twice)

Results in The Players Championship

Tournament 1991 1992 1993 1994
The Players Championship CUT CUT
  Did not play

CUT = missed the halfway cut

Results in World Golf Championships

Tournament 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Match Play
Championship T42 NT1 T43 T64
Invitational T72
Champions

1Cancelled due to 9/11

  Did not play

"T" = Tied
NT = No tournament
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c incorporating the New South Wales PGA Championship
  2. ^ incorporating the Queensland PGA Championship

References

  1. ^ "Week 48 1993 Ending 28 Nov 1993" (pdf). OWGR. Retrieved 4 October 2019.
  2. ^ Craddock, Robert (8 December 2008). "Persistent Peter Senior just keeps on coming at 49". Herald Sun. Retrieved 5 August 2009.
  3. ^ "Peter Senior to take on US Seniors tour". The Daily Telegraph. Sydney. 24 December 2008. Retrieved 5 August 2009.
  4. ^ "Australian PGA champ Senior to play in NZ Open". The New Zealand Herald. 18 December 2003. Retrieved 5 August 2009.
  5. ^ "Mr Peter Albert Senior". Australian Honours Search Facility. Retrieved 10 June 2024.