Celtic Manor Wales Open nightmare as Aberdonian runs up an 11

Paul Lawrie runs up 8 putts at one hole - and misses cut

Former Open champion Paul Lawrie went from the sublime to the ridiculous when he followed five birdies with a nightmare 11 that contained an incredible eight putts in the second round of the Celtic Manor Wales Open over the Ryder Cup course today.
The Aberdonian, pictured, had charged from 63rd to joint fourth place, only two behind overnight leader Chris Wood in his opening eight holes.

When he was in a greenside bunker for two on the 610-yard second, his 10th, the Scot had hopes of picking up another shot. But instead he came out far too strongly and saw his long first putt go past the flag and trickle down into a hollow.

From there he needed three attempts to get the ball back up, but that was not the end of the drama. He putted back into the hollow from 20 feet with his eighth stroke and had three more putts from there.

“Ridiculous,” he said after signing for a 74 that sent him crashing out of the event at four over par 146 .. but only by one shot! Even seven putts on that green would have enabled Paul to beat the cut.

Asked if the blame lay with him or with the pin placing, the 41-year-old from Aberdeen replied: “Bit of both.
“I hit the first putt about a foot too far. When you do that and you end up where I was then that’s a bit silly.
“The second one hit a divot in front of me so didn’t get up, so after the next one didn’t make it either I had to make sure with the one after that and knocked it about 20 feet past.
“I couldn’t believe it when I then back down the hollow.”
“The really sad thing was that I had played so lovely. I missed a three-foot putt at the first, otherwise I would have been out in six under.”
In contrast, Luke Donald, last weekend's winner, shot a 65 for 140, the same 36-hole mark as Aberdonian Richie Ramsay who followed his first-day 68 with a 72.
Early leaders on four-under 138 were Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez, Denmark's Soren Hansen and Maarten Lafeber of the Netherlands.

EARLY SECOND-ROUND SCOREBOARD
Par 142 (2x72)
138 Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 70 68, Soren Hansen (Den) 68 70, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 70 68

139 Peter Lawrie 72 67, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 69 70
140 Richie Ramsay 68 72, Rhys Davies 67 73, Luke Donald 75 65, Darren Clarke 69 71, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 67 73
141 Gary Boyd 71 70, James Kingston (Rsa) 70 71, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 69 72, Simon Dyson 71 70
142 Marco Ruiz (Par) 71 71, Graeme McDowell 72 70, Marc Warren 71 71, Benn Barham 70 72, Oliver Fisher 74 68
143 Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 72 71, Anton Haig (Rsa) 72 71, Jamie Donaldson 71 72, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 72 71, Barry Lane 71 72, Ross McGowan 70 73
144 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 72, Garry Houston 73 71, Peter Whiteford 72 72, Phillip Price 70 74, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 72 72, David Lynn 72 72, Alastair Forsyth 71 73, James Ruth 70 74, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 72 72
145 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 73 72, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 74 71, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 73 72, Mark Foster 72 73, Clodomiro Carranza (Arg) 70 75, Graeme Storm 74 71, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 69 76
146 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 75 71, Nick Dougherty 75 71, Andrew Coltart 74 72, Rafael Echenique (Arg) 76 70, Steven O'Hara 76 70, Jamie Elson 74 72, David Dixon 75 71, Paul Lawrie 72 74, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 76 70, Ariel Canete (Arg) 73 73, Fredrik Andersson Hed (Swe) 71 75
147 Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 71 76, Andrew McArthur 73 74, Scott Drummond 78 69, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 72 75
148 Lee Slattery 73 75, Richard Finch 71 77, Paul Broadhurst 75 73, Gregory Havret (Fra) 75 73
149 Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 77 72
150 Craig Smith 73 77, Gary Clark 76 74, Gary Murphy 73 77, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 75 75
151 Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 74 77, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 78 73
152 Anthony Kang (USA) 72 80, David Horsey 77 75, Miles Tunnicliff 74 78
154 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 80 74, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 77 77, Johan Edfors (Swe) 78 76
155 James Morrison 77 78, Michael Watson (USA) 77 78
156 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 82 74
160 Neil Cheetham 80 80
RTD: Brett Rumford (Aus), Anthony Wall