Ian Stanley followed in the footsteps of two of his heroes, Kel Nagle and Peter Thomson, when he won the 2001 De Vere Hotels PGA Seniors Championship at Carden Park and then, a matter of months later, also won the Senior British Open, presented by MasterCard, at Royal County Down, thereby emulating Neil Coles as the only man to have achieved this double in a single calendar year. Those two victories, coupled with a series of other strong performances, helped the Australian to succeed compatriot, Noel Ratcliffe, as winner of the John Jacobs Trophy, awarded annually to the winner of the European Seniors Tour Order of Merit and enabled him to set a new money record, winning £19,051 more than England's Tommy Horton did when he set the previous record in 1997.
Stanley has been a regular visitor to Europe since the early 1970s, winning once on The European Tour when he tied with Christy O'Connor Jnr for the 1975 Martini International title and he was also a regular winner Down Under, capturing more than 20 titles on the Australasian circuit.
Stanley represented Australia in two World Cups (in 1974 and 1975) and last autumn was a member of the Rest of the World team that competed against America in the inaugural UBS Warburg Cup. Nowadays, works as a golf commentator on Fox TV when not competing on the European Seniors Tour.
Australasia unless otherwise stated :
1975 Martini Open, New Britain Open, Queensland Open (Papua)
1976 South Seas Classic (Fiji)
1979 Victorian PGA Championship
1980 Wembley Classic, Geraldton Classic
1981 Traralgon Classic
1982 Westpac Classic
1983 Hume Classic, Murray River Classic
1984 Murray River Classic, South Australian PGA Championship
1985 WA Open, NSW Open, Geraldton Classic
1986 Murray River Classic, Fiji Open
1987 South West Open
1988 Fijian Hotel Classic, New Zealand Open
1989 Tasmanian Open
1990 Fijian Hotel Classic
1992 Norfolk Island Open, Victorian Open
Ian played in the 2003 Asian Senior Masters.
Photos from 2003 ASM Singapore
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