The Scot returns to the venue of one of his 21 European Tour triumphs and he faces a stiff challenge as the field includes European Seniors Tour No 1 Carl Mason, the defending champion, England’s Jim Rhodes and four other Jersey winners in Maurice Bembridge, Island resident Tommy Horton, Noel Ratcliffe and Malcolm Gregson.
There are also 11 others who won titles on the Seniors Tour in 2004.
Torrance, 51, travels to Jersey with warm memories of La Moye because it was on its rolling fairways and slippery greens that he put together rounds of 68, 69, 69 and 73 to win the 1991 Jersey European Airways Open.
Nor was it the only time he featured near the top of the leaderboard in the event because he also finished tied for third in 1979 and tied for fifth in 1987 before coming second to South Africa’s Ian Palmer in 1993.
‘I have a lot of happy memories of La Moye,’ said Torrance, who won for the first time on the Seniors Tour at last year’s Travis Perkins Senior Masters over the Edinburgh course at Wentworth.
‘It’s always nice to go back to a place where you’ve won before although I don’t remember much about winning there in ’91.
It was a long time ago! ‘I love Jersey though,’ he added.
‘It’s a great island, the people are fantastic and, from what I can remember, La Moye is a wonderful golf course.
‘I chose to play there because of a combination of all those factors.
I am in a pretty privileged position in the sense that I can pick and choose what tournaments I want to play on both the European and Seniors Tours and this is one of the tournaments that I really wanted to play in.’ Mason also makes an emotional return to a course where he finished third behind Ireland’s Des Smyth at the 1988 Jersey Open and he will be hoping to add to the nine Seniors titles he has won since turning 50 less than two years ago.
‘It’s a lovely course and one which I am looking forward to playing again,’ said the Englishman who came into the 2005 season having won a staggering 689,452 euros during his first two seasons on the Seniors Tour.
‘I haven’t played it for a while but I was a (Seniors Tour) referee there for a couple of years before I turned 50 so I have a pretty good idea how it will play.
‘It’s an excellent test and one of a growing number of good courses we play on the Seniors Tour.’ 2004 champion Jim Rhodes is another man who had to wait for a while before he won his first Seniors title.
Rhodes, the former club professional at South Staffordshire GC, made no less than 105 appearances before winning his first title in 2001 but then he doubled that haul when he won last year’s Irvine Whitlock Seniors Classic.
Rhodes has always been regarded as one of the Seniors Tour’s best ball strikers and he was in majestic form as he led from start to finish three shots ahead of Scotland’s John Chillas on eleven under par 205.
The Seniors’ scores count on Friday, Saturday and Sunday while they will also be playing in the 36-hole Pro-Am section which will be played on Thursday and Friday.
