Stephen McAllister poised to return to mainstream golf with the Seniors Tour
Scott Stephen McAllister is now contemplating a return to mainstream European Tour, Senior Tour leg, after a lapse of 12 long years.
The lean and good-looking McAllister turned 50 on February 16. He is now hoping to make a comeback to the Champions Tour and take up professional golf from where he left back in 2000.
Winner of two European Tour titles, McAllister remained part of the European Tour entourage for a considerable period of time and went off-course in 2000.
McAllister said, “When I ended my playing career in 2000 I always knew I was going to join the Senior Tour, but I can’t believe how quickly it has come around”.
The 50-year-old McAllister has been practicing for the past one year and have been part of the Tartan Tour for the whole season in 2011.
He revealed that he has been playing with the young golfers on the Scottish turf in order to gain firsthand knowledge of how things might turn out for him on the competitive scale.
For the moment, the Scotsman is all happy with his form and putting.
He added, “I feel as though the competitive edge is coming back though. I’ve not put my clubs down all winter, and I feel as though I have kept switched on mentally”.
McAllister surged to the zenith of his career in 1990 when he landed two European Tour titles, the Atlantic Open and the KLM Dutch Open, and finished 19th on the European Tour Money List.
Apart from his professional victories, McAllister also won the non-tour professional tournaments the Toyota Cup in 1988 and the Scottish Masters in 1987.
The Scott bid farewell to mainstream professional sport in the year 2000 and has been running his own business of corporate golf manager and a golf coach for the last 12 years.
The question, however, remains whether the two-time winner will be able to card victories on the Champions Tour replete with grizzled veterans who have managed stunning comebacks to professional golf.
McAllister has many glistening examples of veterans who managed a strong return to the sport even after a lapse of several years.
Australian Mike Harwood, is one such example, which has given McAllister hope of staying alive in the tough competitive environment.
Harwood, a five-time European Tour winner, pulled in the Senior Championship in 2009, coming back from a similar break of around a decade.
He was also crowned Rookie of the Year on the Senior Tour the same year.
McAllister further added, “I actually spoke to Mike when I went to Mauritius in December to play in the Pro-Am, and he seemed a lot more relaxed than when we were on Tour”.
The Scott lost his tour card in 1997 and decided to bid adieu to professional golf three years later.
It will be interesting to see how the once raging golfer of the past manoeuvres his way through the Senior Tour.
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