Chapman bids for place in history

Roger Chapman will look to continue his unforgettable 2012 and secure a place in the history books when he begins his bid for the Senior Open Championship at Turnberry.

The 53-year-old Englishman claimed his first Senior major in May - and only the fourth title of his professional career - when he won the Senior PGA Championship and he followed that up with a triumph at the US Senior Open earlier this month.

Those successes saw Chapman join Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Hale Irwin as the only players to have won those two majors in the same season.

Now he now has the chance to join South African legend Player in an exclusive club of having claimed those two titles and also the Senior Open Championship in the same season.

Chapman did not have much success in the Open Championship during his days on the European Tour, including missing the cut in his first outing in 1977 - at Turnberry.

However, he feels much more comfortable heading to Scotland this time.

"Fortunately, I'm a bit more experienced and I'm full of confidence after my two back-to-back Senior Major victories, so I won't be feeling quite the same as I did when I played in my first Open Championship at Turnberry," Chapman said on www.europeantour.com.

"I remember standing on the seventh tee looking out over the Ailsa Course and gazing at the huge crowds and thinking, 'what on earth am I doing here.' I felt totally out of my depth.

"It would be a boyhood dream to win another Major on home soil."

This week's field contains 33 former Major champions, but last year's winner Russ Cochran of America is absent due to a back injury.