Paul Lawrie with his protegee David Law after the Hazlehead teenager's victory in the Scottish boys championship final at Balgownie (Cal Carson Golf Agency image).

Busy Paul to play six tournaments

in row in bid to boost ranking

By JOCK MacVICAR
From today's Scottish Daily Express
Paul Lawrie is embarking on a six-tournament stretch in a bid to regain a position in the world rankings more befitting his talent and work ethic.
Although he finished tied seventh in the Estoril Open two weeks ago, the 1999 Open champion is still 165th in the rankings, 31 spots behind leading Scot Alastair Forsyth and 19 behind Colin Montgomerie.
"I don't normally play as many events in a row," said Lawrie. "I did five last season but I don't think I've ever done six."
Lawrie has decided to make his big push in the build-up to the Barclays Scottish Open coming up at Loch Lomond, where he was ninth last year, and the Open at Turnberry where he was 24th the last time it was played there in 1994.
"Originally, I'd thought about going to China this week and Korea next week," he said. "But after I played so well at Estoril and putted so poorly I decided to stay at home these two weeks and work on my putting.
"If I had putted decently in Portugal I reckon the way I played I could have won by five or six shots. There's enough good stuff in there to be winning again."
His caddie, Andy Forsyth, agrees. "In the last five years with Paul, I haven't seen him hit the ball as well as he did at Estoril," he said.
Lawrie's Estoril Open statistics strongly support the player's belief. He was fourth (88.5%) in driving accuracy; first (80.6%) in hitting greens in regulation, and of the 71 players who made the cut, 60th (31.7) in putts per round. In contrast, the tournament winner, Michael Hoey, was 59th (67.3%) in driving, 56th (59.7%) in greens in regulation and third (27) in putts per round.
Lawrie said: "Although I'm playing si sevents in a row, unlike going to China and Korea, there isn't too much gravelling involved. All the events are in Europe - the Spanish, Italian and Irish Opens, BMW PGA at Wentworth, European Open at the London Club and the Wales Open at Celtic Manor."
Instead of embarking on the long haul, Lawrie is spending a huge amount of time practising on the special putting green he has had installed at his Aberdeen home.
"I've been hours and hours on it, to the extent that my back is hurting a little bit," he said.
"It's a confidence thing, not technical. I'm just working on seeing the ball going into the hole. I feel I just need one good putting round and I'll be away."
Although Paul is working harder than ever on his game as he targets qualifying among the top 60 for the new $10million Dubai World Championship in November, Lawrie remains totally committed to his Aberdeen-based Golf Foundation.
At the moment, he has five players in the group, including new Scottish boys' champion David Law and Michele Thomson who won her first even as a professional in Florida last week. More are in the pipeline.
"When we launched the Foundation in 2001 the idea was not so much to find winners but to introduce as many youngsters to ghe game as we could," he explained.
"But it's great to see some of them doing so well."
No one on the European Tour puts more back into the game than Lawrie. His development work with the Foundation and at national level is contributing a huge amount for the future of Scottish golf.
"I enjoy the mentoring," he added. I wouldn't do it if I didn't enjoy it. I absolutely love it, and seeing David Law win at Royal Aberdeen last week was fantastic."
The R&A are so impressed by the former Open champion's work that they haved donated £25,000 to his Foundation and junior programmes this year.
While the R&A's input is massive, the Foundation, managed by Murray Carnie, has 11 other sponsors.
His coaches, Neil Marr and Adam Hunter, also give their time freely, and Paul's wife, Marian, is a huge support in everything he does.
Now a football section has been launched with former Aberdeen player Jaciie Lawsrence in chargbe.
Lawrie's peers also appreciate the work he is doing with juniors. Some of the top players on the European tour, including Darren Clarke and Jeev Milkha Singh, will play in a fund-raising pro-am at The Carrick on the Monday of Scottish Open week at Loch Lomond.