Mike McLean will be hoping to relive former glories when he tees it up at the European Senior Tour season finale, the MCB Tour Championship Hosted by Constance Belle Mare Plage in Mauritius, next week.
It will be a special week for the Englishman as he is attached to the host venue, located in the town of Poste de Flacq, and has a long-running friendship with the resort’s owner Jean-Jacques Vallet.
McLean won the Mauritius Open in 1994 and 2000, before it became a Senior Tour event, and he will be hoping to feed off those memories as he aims for a strong finish to his rookie season at the prestigious €400,000 event.
“I played golf years ago with one of the owners of Belle Mare Plage, in the Pro-Am at the Mauritius Open in 1994, and I shot 62,” said the 50 year old.
“Then I went on to win that tournament and I won the 2000 tournament too, when Ian Poulter played and a lot of other good players. So my wife and I have had a good relationship with Constance Belle Mare Plage down the years - my wife came with me every year and caddied for me.
“Because I have just joined the Senior Tour, the owner wanted me to wear some of the shirts and hats with their logo on it this year. It’s a heavenly place to play golf, a great long-haul holiday destination where you have five-star accommodation, two great golf courses and everything is included if you stay there.
“You can walk straight from the hotel to the practice ground and it’s a five-minute walk to the tee. It’s an incredible resort.”
That high standard of facilities is indicative of life on the Senior Tour and McLean has thoroughly enjoyed his maiden season, despite not picking up the kind of results he had hoped for.
“My first year on tour has been great,” he said. “The standards are incredibly high and it is what I expected and even more. We have played some of the best venues around the world this year and the Constance Belle Mare Plage is no different. I am extremely excited to have made it here and it’s a course that really fits my eye.
“I have played four or five events not every well and I got a feel for it towards the end of the season and they ran out quick on me. I couldn’t afford to play those bad events.
“The Senior Tour is exactly what I expected. I expected the standard to be extremely high and it has been that and a lot more.
“I know all of these players from the past and they don’t struggle with their game, they still play beautifully. We are looked after so well and we have played some great venues and courses around the world. It’s all really well run and I have thoroughly enjoyed it.”
Mclean will be hoping to finish the season off in style and he will be joined by a host of stellar names including former Ryder Cup Captains Colin Montgomerie and Sam Torrance, while England’s Paul Wesselingh and Denmark’s Steen Tinning will go head-to-head for the prestigious John Jacobs Trophy, awarded to the winner of the Order of Merit.
Wesselingh leads by just under €48,000 after his victory at the penultimate event of the year, the Fubon Senior Open, so it will take something big from his Danish counter-part to come out on top.
