Staff WriterThe Senior Open, Europe’s one-and-only Senior Major, rolls into Sunningdale this week with the enthusiasm of a Labrador at dinner time—and right at the centre of it all is the cool, composed K.J. Choi, defending champion and quiet history-maker.
“I’m excited to be back,” Choi said, probably understating it. And why not? He made history at last year’s Senior Open at Carnoustie, becoming the first South Korean to lift a Senior Major trophy.
Now, he’s looking to double down at one of golf’s most storied venues, fresh from a run at The 153rd Open at Royal Portrush—a perk reserved for the reigning Senior Open champ.
He won’t be strolling down Sunningdale’s fairways alone. The field reads like a Sunday afternoon Masters viewing party: Darren Clarke, Ernie Els, and Pádraig Harrington are all teeing it up.
That’s 7 Majors, countless stories, and at least three competitive spirits that refuse to retire quietly.
Harrington, in particular, seems determined to erase the “close but no cigar” narrative at this event.
This will be his fourth crack at the ISPS HANDA Senior Open, and he’s already chalked up two runner-up finishes and a fifth place for good measure.
He, too, was at Royal Portrush last week, where he launched the final men’s Major of the season with the opening tee shot. That’s a sentence you can dine out on for years.
Harrington and Choi will be paired together for the opening rounds, along with New Zealand’s own Steven Alker—a man with more consistency than a metronome.
Alker, a nine-time PGA TOUR Champions winner, captured the Schwab Cup in 2022 along with the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship. Not bad for a guy who used to fly under the radar.
Ernie Els is back on Senior Open duty for the first time since 2022. The Big Easy finished third at Gleneagles that year and tied for eighth the year prior at Sunningdale, a venue practically in his backyard thanks to his longtime residence on the Wentworth Estate. If he’s going to notch his first Senior Open title, there’s no better place to do it.
But hold the phone—this week’s not just about past glories and posh postcodes.
Angel Cabrera, back from exile and swinging like a man with something to prove, joins the fray alongside 2018 Senior Open winner Miguel Angel Jiménez.
The Spaniard recently claimed his 17th PGA TOUR Champions victory—and third Senior Major—at the Kaulig Companies Championship. His ponytail might be greying, but his game certainly isn’t.
And then there’s Clarke. The silver-maned Ulsterman joined an elite club when he added a Senior Open title to his Open Championship trophy case in 2022, beating Harrington in a battle that felt more Ryder Cup than retirement tour. He’ll play alongside two-time Senior Major winner Jerry Kelly and last year’s Senior Open champion, Alex Čejka, who’s back to defend his title in spirit if not name.
The stage is set. The turf is tight. The legends are limber. And the 2025 Senior Open at Sunningdale looks ready to deliver another slice of vintage golfing theatre—with a few new chapters still to be written.
Let the backswings and banter begin.
