Shipley golfer Gordon Brand is hoping to make an impact on the lucrative European Seniors Tour when the new season kicks off in Barbados next month.

The former Ryder Cup star, who spends much of the winter at the Pinheiros Altos Golf Club in Portugal, finished in the top ten in six Seniors tournaments last year, despite only qualifying for the second half of the season after turning 50 in August.

Brand, who is still attached to Hollins Hall in Shipley, said: "I am playing well at the moment and I suppose I should be winning a tournament or two this season.

"You have got to finish in the top ten every time to make it pay on this tour. It's a bit like the European Tour was 20 years ago."

At present, Brand is concentrating on a sunshine start in the Barbados Open at the Royal Westmoreland Golf Club on March 1-3.

"I have never played the Westmoreland but I have refereed there and it is a nice course," he said.

"I still get the same buzz playing as I did in the 1980s - especially when I am up there contending.

"The tournaments in Britain are well supported; they get good crowds. It is similar to when I played on the European Tour. There are a few more tournaments in Britain at the moment than on the continent.

"The standard on this tour gets better all the time but I am feeling fit and I have been practising all winter. I should be able to better what I did last year."

The highlight of the Seniors Tour this season is the Senior British Open Championship, for which the prize fund stands at £1million.

Brand, who still plays from Hollins Hall for some events, says he is back to full fitness after injury problems in the 1990s when he had a back

operation.

His best finishes last season were thirds at the Bendinat London Seniors Masters and the Arcapita Seniors Tour Championship.

The golfer, who has a home in Ilkley, maintained his playing privileges on the European Tour from 1977 to 1994 and enjoyed victory in the 1989 Volvo Belgian Open.

But he really hit the headlines in 1986 when he was

runner-up in the Open Champ-ionship at Turnberry, five strokes behind Greg Norman. That year he finished a career-best fifth on the European Tour Order of Merit.

Brand was part of England's winning Alfred Dunhill Cup team in 1987, along with Howard Clark and Nick Faldo, and he competed in the Ryder Cup and World Cup in 1983.