Lapsley dominated the Australasian tour for senior (over 50) golfers, winning eight of the 49 tournaments he played in on both sides of the Tasman.
That was good enough to give him the coveted player of the year title and he only just failed to score a notable double, missing out on the Order of Merit honours by less than $46.
"It came down to just one shot somewhere," he said from Christchurch recently.
The Order of Merit title went to Ken Tarling, of Canada, with $40,180.50 banked over the long schedule, including a one-shot win over Paul Dalgliesh and Garth Domigan, of Wanaka, in the City of Dunedin Legends event in Dunedin last February.
Lapsley earned just $45.84 less with $40,134.66 won and had he finished higher in the end of season finale, the $50,000 Legends Tour Championship at Byron Bay, New South Wales earlier this month (won by Ian Baker-Finch) he would have taken the money title, as well.
Looking to next year, Lapsley has decided against full participation in the senior tour, which, he says, will have up to 70 events.
However, he will restrict himself to playing in the New Zealand tournaments, which will not include pro-ams in Queenstown or Dunedin, as they will not be run next year.
The South Island leg of the tour begins at Pegasus, north of Christchurch, on February 14 with a $10,000 senior event, followed by tournaments with identical prize money at Terrace Downs, Rakaia Gorge (February 15), Ashburton (February 16) and Gleniti, Timaru (February 18).
The main event will be the $50,000 New Zealand PGA Senior Championship at Wairakei, in the North Island, from March 1-3, an event won previously by Lapsley.
