Here at NCG we’d like to offer up our congratulations to Barry Lane for reaching the milestone of 600 European Tour events.In a career spanning over 25 years the Englishman has become only the fifth man to get there behind Malcolm Mackenzie (603), Eamonn Darcy (610), Roger Chapman (617), and Sam Torrance (702), and no doubt by the time the 2008 season is over he will only have Torrance in his sights.
Personally I hope he supersedes that mark and becomes the longest serving European Tour player in history, it’s an honour he deserves as one of the stalwarts of the tour. Whether anyone will catch him remains to be seen, but it will take plenty of hard graft and dedication, something Barry has shown in bundles.
If you’ve caught any of the golf on Sky this week you’ll no doubt have seen him reminiscing about some of the lighter moments in his career as well as some of the tougher times, all of which is well worth listening to.
It took Barry three years to get from 500 to 600 appearances and the 47-year-old has a similar timeframe to chase down Torrance before having the option of joining the Seniors Tour, a place where he will surely thrive and recapture that winning feeling.
With a little bit of luck Barry has put the worst of his injury troubles behind him after missing a chunk of the 2005 season with a knee injury and has plenty of healthy and competitive years ahead of him. You never know, with a little more luck he could even take the record from Des Smyth as being the oldest winner on tour.
By Will Spence
2 comments:
Remember seeing Barry in his first PGA at Wentworth, hit the ball better than anyone but couldn't putt that week. Friend played with him in the pro-am at Crans and said as nice a bloke, and genuinely funny, as you could meet
Amazing he's still out there. Feels like he's from a different era. I remember him briefly making a run at the 2004 Open at Troon before his old putter failings caught up with him again.
Didn't he play in the Ryder Cup once way back when?
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