Torrance knows limits but still aspires to be a winner

NO PART of life on the Seniors Tour has cheered up Sam Torrance more than winning tournaments again. With four victories under his belt this season and eight in all since turning 50, the Largs man's career has been galvanised by success.

After carding 67, five under par, at Kingsbarns, Torrance acknowledged yesterday that he would love to be competing regularly on the European Tour, but is enough of a realist to appreciate he can no longer compete with long hitters of the calibre of Paul Casey and Johan Edfors.

"I know where I belong," smiled the Largs man, who hopes to win the Order of Merit title on the European Seniors for the second year running. "And I belong on the Seniors Tour. I would love to be still out here, but it's a hard slog. It's four rounds rather than three, the courses are much longer and the level of play is higher. Need I say more?"

Torrance is pretty sceptical about his chances of winning the Dunhill, even though he got off to a handsome start. "I've been winning, which is something I've enjoyed all my life and it's nice to do that again. But who knows whether I am capable [of winning] here. I struggle with the length. But I love playing links golf and it's great to play here with Daniel."

The partnership of father and son - past winners of the team competition - made a tidy start on 64 and are handily placed a couple of shots behind the leaders on ten under. The Torrances went to the pictures to see Adam Sandler in Click on Wednesday evening and were happy to report their games had clicked at Kingsbarns.

Scott Drummond, who carded 66 at St Andrews, was the leading Scot on six under, and much relieved to find a smidgen of form after a gloomy season in which he's missed 18 cuts in 25 tournaments. Poor putting has been at the root of the 2004 BMW PGA champion's unrewarding golf.

In a bid to sort out the problem, he went to see Paul Harrion, an expert in bio-mechanics, at the Forest of Arden. The pair spent hours together on the practice putting green and Drummond knew the effort was worthwhile when he holed a 20- foot putt on the first green at the Old Course.

While his scoring has been indifferent of late, Drummond still plans to attend the US PGA Tour's qualifying school next month when he hopes to gain a card which would enable him to compete on both sides of the Atlantic.

Although he's slumped to 195th spot on the Order of Merit this year, the Scot is exempt until 2009 thanks to his success at Wentworth.

The partnership of Sandy Lyle and Richie Ramsay began quietly with 64 at St Andrews. According to the former Masters champion, the pair got off to a bright start, but faded after the turn. "We ham-and-egged it at the start," he said, "but turned to spaghetti by the end."

Lyle was 29 when he won the Masters, while Ramsay will be 23 when he makes his debut at Augusta next spring. The Scot feels the US Amateur champion needs to "get cracking" when he eventually turns professional. "Richie has got off to a good start," said the last Scot to lead the money-list in the US. "It's all up to him now."

Ramsay, who would rather have played off the back tees at the Old Course and competed off scratch rather than giving four strokes away off the front pegs, reckoned he'd played "very, very average" golf and hopes to contribute more birdies to the team score today.