Soft-spoken Corkman Denis O'Sullivan is fed up being Mr Nice Guy.

And as he faces into his fifth season on the European Seniors Tour in Barbados next week, Ireland's number one is set to get tough and stake his claim to the really big bucks.

O'Sullivan, 53, has won four times and banked a tidy ¤445,000 in prize-money since joining the paid ranks in 1998.

But he's still looking to hook one of the big titles, such as the Senior British Open, which would smooth the path to the Senior big time on the US Seniors Tour.

Victory at Royal County Down in July would virtually guarantee O'Sullivan the top spot on the money list and a shot at the US Tour School finals.

But it would also mean an extra $100,000 bonus as a member of Gary Player's the Rest of the World team in the UBS Warburg Cup.

The $3 million Ryder Cup style event for players over 40 guarantees every man a minimum of $100,000 just to tee it up and O'Sullivan wants a piece of the action.

"The Warburg's got to be my goal," he said. "Des Smyth played in it last year and it's just huge - on a world scale - and probably the biggest thing we'll ever get to play in a this stage of our lives."

In the Warburg Cup each 12 man team consists of six players aged 40-49 and six players over the age of 50, and O'Sullivan is determined to make Player's side at Sea Island Golf Club on St. Simons Island in Georgia from November 14-17.

Last year a World side that boasted the likes of Isao Aoki, Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Sam Torrance and Ian Woosnam lost narrowly to a US side that included Mark Calcavecchia, Scott Hoch, Hale Irwin, Mark O'Meara and Tom Watson.

Explained O'Sullivan: "The top two on the European Seniors tour get in this time so I've got to improve a lot on last year to make it. I played well but then lost my momentum towards the end.

"But this year is going to be different and I'm not going to make the same mistakes again.

"There are two tournaments that are very important now - the British Seniors and the Welsh Open. They're worth almost half a million sterling each so if you win one of them you're almost guaranteed to be in the Warburg Cup."

But that will be easier said that done and O'Sullivan knows that he has to win big.

To do it he's put himself through a punishing winter fitness programme that he hopes will help him last the pace.

Last season the former Irish amateur champion picked up a mysterious virus in late summer and could manage just one top ten finish in his last six events.

"I just played so badly for he last five or six weeks," he said. "I'm normally a fit individual but I was just getting tired very quickly and had no stamina.

"I think I ate something very weird somewhere because we had Turkey and Greece and Tunisia and Portugal and Spain all wrapped into about six or seven weeks. When you're changing Continents and eating different foods it's not easy.

"When I came home I was really worried and I got my blood checked but nothing showed up so a month later I went back in and I said, 'Look there's got to be something wrong because I've really felling unwell', but there wasn't and now I actually feel great."

"I joined a gym at Rochestown Park Hotel and I worked really hard there before going off to South Africa to practice."

Unlike other years, O'Sullivan has taken his pre-season preparation extremely seriously.

"I'm just back from three weeks in Cape Town and I just practiced at Royal Cape and played a lot of other courses locally.

"I've never done it before. Last year I didn't do anything and I was really annoyed with myself when I go to the first event in Barbados because I hadn't been anywhere with quick greens so I said there was no way I was going to let that happen again.

"I'm hoping that this will pay off because I've put in a lot of work and I'm feeling quite confident."

The AIB Irish Seniors Open at Adare Manor in May will be O'Sullivan's first appearance on home soil.

And it's tournament the hopes to do better in after disappointing the home fans by failing to challenge in the national event for the past three seasons.

He explained: "There is more pressure in the home event. Everyone expects you to do well. When you're away you can do your own thing. Nobody is at you. They don't remind you how you are doing.

"I shouldn't feel it at home. There's no reason in the world why I should do so poorly but I think I was just trying too hard and the big thing about golf is that you just let it happen.

"I know I was trying so hard not just for me but for everybody else. I'm not going to fall into that trap this year."

But O'Sullivan knows that the European Tour will be tougher than ever this year, despite the fact that there will be no 36-hole cut and that the fields will be slightly smaller.

Said Sullie: "There are fewer guys and the talent is very good. Some new guys have come in again this year like the American Steve Stull who went ape at the Tour School and won it by ten shots."

If al goes well he might try his hand at the US Seniors Tour School again, despite a nasty experience at the hands of unfriendly US pros two years ago.

"I'll think about it," he said. "It I'm playing well I'll go. Top man in Europe gets to final qualifying and if I get there I'll know how to handle the situation."

Could this be the year when Denis finally becomes the Menace?

Westport

Darren Clarke, Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley will play a new -look Westport next month.

All three are committed to the Smurfit Irish Professional Championship at the western course from April 25-28.

Explained secretary manager Paul O'Neill: "We have three new holes - the seventh, eighth and 18th and hope to have them in play for the championship.

"But it all depends on the Irish Region of the PGA and their requirements with regard to the set up of the course."

One of the longest championship courses in the country at 7,086 yards, the par 73 layout is sure to test the big guns.

Ladies

Leinster are banking on a sister act to retain their Girls' Interprovincial title.

Carlow sisters Karen and Tara Delaney will be hoping to lead the champions to victory at Headfort from 3-5 April.

Playing off five and six the two youngsters will backbone the Leinster defence of the title against Connacht on the opening day at the County Meath venue.

Juliet

Mount Juliet are considering a move back to their old course set up after the American Express World Championship next September.

The course will be narrower and longer for the WGC event but it could be changed back if amateurs find it too tough.

Said superintendent Aidan O'Hara: "We will consider putting the fairways back to where they were if the members are unhappy.

"It's not our intention to make things more difficult for the ordinary player."

© Brian Keogh 2002

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