Forever young

"When I stopped playing in 1998 I'd had enough, I really had. I was fed up with it. I'd had 25 years on the road playing and I just wasn't enjoying it at all."

AND with that, Carl Mason waved goodbye to golf following a career that had seen him win Rookie of the Year in 1974, never make a trip to Q-School and collect two European Tour titles just four years earlier. He was 45. It was the end of the road, so he thought. But after a two-year stint as a referee on the Seniors Tour a fire had been reignited and, unlike many men, he couldn't wait to turn 50.

Mason had found a new lease of life and in 2003, 30 years after turning professional, he found himself winning another rookie of the year award. Since then he has never finished lower then second on the Order of Merit and this year wrapped up a third John Jacobs Trophy following five victories that have taken his tally to 19 - just four short of that of the grandfather of seniors' golf, Tommy Horton.

At the end of a landmark season, Mason stands as one of the most successful European Senior golfers in the history of the tour having earned more than any other player with a grand total of €1,642,960 and counting.

"In your senior years things are supposed to go the other way," Mason told me from his Oxfordshire home as he reflected on one of the best years of his career to date. "And to keep progressing the way I have, I'm very thankful for that.

"When I won in Wales, back in June, it was a big one and I knew I had a chance of winning the Order of Merit. And then when I won the European Senior Masters at Woburn I knew I'd practically done it."

The 2007 season as a whole, unlike the British summer this year, has been exceptionally hot for Mason, but that victory came in the middle of a blistering streak between August and September. Within that timeframe he picked up three titles in four events - the Bad Ragaz PGA Senior Open, European Senior Masters and the PGA Seniors' Championship - and only just missed out on a fourth consecutive English Senior Open, finishing second to Bill Longmuir.

"I think the thing I have enjoyed most about this year is the relative consistency of it. I've also putted really well, which you've got to do when you're going for low scores. My game's been steady, my confidence has been sky high and if I've putted well, I've taken some beating."

Another bonus for the 55-year-old was an absence of the back problems that prevented him really challenging Sam Torrance in the Order of Merit races the Scot won in 2005 and 2006, and this has been born out of a new fitness regime.

Now, Mason is not cut from the same cloth as Gary Player and you certainly won't find him doing the agonising amount of stomach crunches or push-ups the South African puts himself through on a daily basis. But this year Mason finally discovered the gym.

"During my career I've never really trained stamina-wise," he said. "But now I do a few light weights on the machines and spend a bit of time on the cross-trainer. I've found that my legs are much stronger and generally I'm much fitter. And it must have helped my back as well."

But while the gym is refreshing his body and mind, it is still the thrill of competition that keeps, Mason, and the rest of his European Seniors Tour colleagues young.

"The feelings are the same as when you playing as a youngster on the tour, the nerves, the pressure and all of that. After 25 years I stopped playing on the main tour and had six years off. It was lovely to have that chance to play again, because, after all, you're a player and that's what you do best, and to be given that chance to come back and compete is wonderful.

"I think that's what it's all about and it's a good friendly tour but still very competitive and the standard is improving all the time. The social life is also very good and there's always somebody to go out to dinner with. We have a couple of drinks, we're not the fizzy-water brigade, by any means, and we enjoy ourselves. To me, that's a big part of it.

"When you're away all week I look forward to the evenings and going out to dinner and having a couple of drinks to relax. We have a really good time."

Since joining the tour Mason has certainly enjoyed himself, but the serious business of winning a Major still eludes him after going so close in his debut year.

"I lost the British Open when I needed a bogey at the last and doubled and then lost in a play-off," said Mason who went toe-to-toe with Open legend Tom Watson.

"The British Open is certainly one you would like to win. I just hope that one wasn't my only chance. OK, I was disappointed at the end to have given it away, it was mine to win, but I think that tournament did me so much good confidence wise.

"I played with Jack Nicklaus and Watson in the first two rounds and played probably the best golf of my life. After an hour or so when I had settled down, I thought 'what a week that was'. I played fantastic golf for 71 holes, and I thought 'you've got nothing to worry about. Play like that and you'll do well'. And thankfully I have."

Mason is well on the way to surpassing the legacy that Horton has set down and by the time he is eligible for his free bus pass, he looks sure to have written himself into the history books. He has no ambition of selling out and joining the Champions Tour and even pays very little interest in crossing the Atlantic for the American Majors.

Mason is a European, through and through, a stalwart and one who is helping to carry the Seniors Tour to a new level.