Lawrie goes crashing out after 'brutal' day takes its toll on Scots

FROM THE SCOTSMAN WEBSITE
By MARTIN DEMPSTER
Paul Lawrie, the 1999 winner, missed the cut after slumping to a second-round 82 - his worst round in the Open Championship - and revealed there had only been one other time that he'd experienced more difficult conditions in the event.
"Apart from the third round at Muirfield (in 2002], I can't remember a worse day than that in The Open," recalled the Aberdonian, who had started the day at three-under but crashed out on seven-over after a 13-shot difference between his two rounds.
"The round at Muirfield was the worst I've ever played golf in. I was 78 that day and I don't think I played poorly at all. That was as hard as it gets. It was as windy as today but pouring with rain, too.
"It wasn't as bad today, but I still thought it was unplayable before they stopped it, at least two or three holes before. You couldn't stop the ball on the seventh green, for instance. I think I got unlucky as my ball caught up in the rough and stayed way short of the pin. It was better for the first couple of holes when they re-started it but then for the last four or five holes it was pretty much the same."
He added: "The Open is always the luck of the draw and I think this week is going to prove that. I'm not saying it was easy for Louis (Oosthuizen] this morning as it was raining. But I don't think there was that much wind when he played. Put it this way, you'd certainly not be getting to 12-under when we were out but that's what The Open is and you've got to take your chance when it comes along. I think Louis has won a watch - but the opposite could happen tomorrow."
Six off the lead at the start of play, the Scot three-putted the third and five more bogeys and a double-bogey 7 at the 14th, made it a day to forget.
"Yesterday (Thursday) I don't think I could have had it any easier and today I don't think we could have had it any tougher out there - it was brutal," he declared. "I must have missed four or five putts inside two or three feet. It is so hard to stay still enough to hit the putt. And even when you are stroking it the putter is moving about all over the place."
The 'highlight' of Lawrie's day was escaping with a 5 at the Road Hole, where his second landed up against the wall.
"I played it left-handed and as I normally don't hit it well left-handed I gave it a bit of a hit and it went miles down there (away from the green]. But I made five, so I can't grumble."
Sandy Lyle, the other Scot in the field with his name on the Claret Jug, also made an early exit, as did Martin Laird. Lyle only had one birdie in his 76 to finish on seven-over, while Laird's dream week as he played in his first Open at the home of golf turned into a bit of a nightmare. He slumped to an 83 - which included a quadruple-bogey 7 at the eighth - for 13-over.