Paul Lawrie Claims Home Soil Record
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Paul Lawrie captured his second European Tour title of the year with a runaway four-shot victory in the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles on Sunday.
It was his eighth Tour win, and with it he became the first Scot to win three official titles on Scottish soil. His other two victories came at the 1999 Open Championship at Carnoustie, and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews, Kingsbarns and Carnoustie in 2001.
He led the field by a shot going into the final round and eventually finished at 16-under-par on the PGA Centenary Course, venue for the 2014 Ryder Cup matches.
The win takes Lawrie’s career earnings to more than £9m, and sees him climb to seventh in the European Tour’s Race to Dubai and to 30th in the Official World Golf Rankings.
“I’m definitely playing the best golf of my career,” said the 43-year-old from Aberdeen. “I missed a putt on each of the first five holes. I could have been five under at the start, but I kept chugging away and showed patience. It’s been the most satisfying week.
“It’s been probably one of the best ball-striking weeks in my career. I putted pretty poorly today but still shot four under which showed how nicely I struck the ball. The confidence I get from playing Wilson Staff clubs has been a major factor in the resurgence in my game; I’ve been able to improve my Greens in Regulation stats considerably over the past couple of years.”
The Scot returned to Wilson Staff’s FG Tour irons in January 2010, and has since used them to win the Qatar Masters and deliver seven top ten places this season.
“It’s been great to see Paul return to winning ways with Wilson Staff irons and we wish him well in the forthcoming Ryder Cup match at Medinah,” said Doug Wright, Business Director for Wilson Golf in Europe.
Lawrie was chased down by a pack that included a resurgent Colin Montgomery at -10 and Ryder Cup teammates for 2012 Francesco Molinari (-10) and Nicolas Colsaerts (-6).
Selected leaderboard:
-16: P Lawrie
-12: B Rumford
-11: F Andersson Hed , M Lafeber, R Wattel
-10: C Montgomerie, R Ramsay, S Gallacher, F Molinari
-9: T Bjorn, P Whiteford, P Waring, R Cabrera-Bello
-6 Nicolas Colsaerts
