AS Europe’s finest senior golfers begin their quest today to land the prestigious De Vere Club PGA Seniors Championship at Slaley Hall, few are better placed to judge their prospects than John Harrison.

The Matfen Hall PGA professional and European Senior Tour regular joins a high-class field contesting the £250,000 tournament, which is being defended by DJ Russell. While all eyes will be on the popular figures of Sandy Lyle, Ian Woosnam and Sam Torrance, Harrison earmarked five others to follow over the four days.

First up is Barry Lane, second on the all-time appearance list of European Tour events behind Sam Torrance, and runner up on his debut at Slaley last year. “Barry will be one to watch, he’s been playing on the main tour and is still competitive as he proved with a top-20 finish at the Wales Open last week,” said Harrison.

“Another to keep an eye on will be Mark Mouland, who is a new player on tour with a lot of enthusiasm and who was the highest-placed European on last week’s US PGA Senior Championship. I also think Gordon Brand Jnr will do well while I played with Andrew Oldcorn at Archerfields and he was swinging the club really well.

“The other one I think could do well is the 2010 order of merit winner Boonchu Ruangkit. Last year, in my first event, I played all three rounds with him. He’d come into the event on the back of three wins and he’s got great rhythm and temperament.”

Harrison, however, is not discounting the title claims of Lyle, Woosnam and Torrance, a two-time PGA Seniors champion, having got a close-up of their games back in November.

“I played a practice round with Sandy, Woosie and Sam and it was like a dream fourball really,” said Harrison. “And the great thing about these guys is that they are still working hard at their games, trying to improve and that’s what makes them stand out.”

Harrison also has good reason to be optimistic about his chances, having posted fourth and 13th place finishes in his last two outings – an impressive feat given they came on the back of a recent ten-week lay off due to a slipped disc sustained while doing some gym work in Brunei.

“The back is still not right, but I would think 75% of the field is probably playing with some form of pain killers, so it’s a case of join the club. I think the physio is the most popular person on the Senior Tour,” he added.

The PGA Seniors, which dates back to 1957, holds a special affinity for Harrison who remains one of the most popular PGA coaches in the North East. “It’s nice to play in this because at the end of the day I’m still a club pro at Matfen Hall. The week before I finished 13th at Stapleford Park, I did 50 lessons,” he said.

Harrison, whose brother Phil also features at Slaley, will be encouraging his pupils to watch the action and believes there is plenty they can learn from watching some of Europe’s most famous names.

“You watch events like the US Masters and it’s all about big-hitting and power. With the seniors you will see two things. First, it’s about having a good strategy and secondly, you will see how important the short game is, just being able to get the ball up and down around the green.

“Players like Dave Merriman and Gary Wolstenholme are not the longest off the tee, but if you want to see two of the best short games out there, watch those guys.”

Selected tee times

THE Slaley event runs from June 9-12. Admission is free to spectators, who can download their ticket by visiting www.devere.co.uk/pga-seniors

First round (Tomorrow’s second round tee times in brackets)

07.40 Ian Woosnam, Rodger Davis, Gordon Brand Jnr

07.50 Barry Lane, Mark Mouland, Gary Wolstenholme

08.00 DJ Russell, Chris Williams, Angel Franco

12.10 Peter Fowler, Sam Torrance, Boonchu Ruangkit

12.20 Wayne Grady, Mark James, Sandy Lyle

12.25 (10th tee start) John Harrison, Nick Job, Juan Quiros (07.50 1st)

12.30 Des Smyth, Carl Mason, Andrew Oldcorn (08.05 10th)

Second round

12.15 (10th tee start) Ian Woosnam, Rodger Davis, Gordon Brand Jnr

12.25 (10th) Barry Lane, Mark Mouland, Gary Wolstenholme

12.35 (10th) DJ Russell, Chris Williams, Angel Franco

07.45 (10th) Peter Fowler, Sam Torrance, Boonchu Ruangkit

07.55 (10th) Wayne Grady, Mark James, Sandy Lyle

07.50 (10th) John Harrison, Nick Job, Juan Quiros

08.05 (10th) Des Smyth, Carl Mason, Andrew Oldcorn