PAUL ASKED ALL GOLF'S BIG NAMES TO PLAY AT BALGOWNIE

        Paul Lawrie on the first tee at Balgownie today. Picture by Kenny Smith

   PAUL LAWRIE HAS DONE HIS BIT AS

  AN AMBASSADOR FOR THE ABERDEEN

  ASSET MANAGEMENT SCOTTISH OPEN

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Colin@scottishgolfview.com
Paul Lawrie has been on the European Tour longer than he cares to remember but he admits that even he is quite excited at the prospect of playing in the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open over the Royal Aberdeen Golf Club's Balgownie links from July 10 to 13 next month.

"It's a fabulous course ... it's one of the biggest events on the European Tour ... and it's in my home town," said Paul at today's preview Press Conference in the Royal Aberdeen clubhouse.
"It doesn't get much better than that. I can hardly wait. In fact I wish it started tomorrow."
It's one of the best ever international golf fields assembled at a Scottish venue, apart from at the Open championship, and Paul has done his best to get the World of Golf's big names to enter the tournament which will give them a real test of links golf the week before the Open championship.
"I spoke to my Ryder Cup team-mates, asking them to add the 2014 AAM Scottish Open to their schedules," said Paul.

"I did not have to work hard to persuade them. It was easy to 'sell' the chance to play Royal Aberdeen to them. I spoke to Rory McIlroy, Ian Poulter, Justin Rose, guys like that ... and they were quite enthusiastic about coming to Royal Aberdeen.
"They asked me questions about the course ... and
about Aberdeen as a city. 
"I think Phil Mickelson winning the Scottish Open at Castle Stuart and then going down to win the Open the following week at Muirfield changed the minds of a lot of the big names who would normally not play the week before the Open." 
So what about the 1999 Open champion's own prospects of winning on his doorstep as it were?
"Before I stop (playing), I would love to have a Scottish Open victory on my CV. And to win it
at Royal Aberdeen would be fantastic. I'll get a 
lot of support from the Aberdeen fans, I am sure of that, but I won't feel under any more pressure than I would at any European Tour event," said Paul.
"I give 110 per cent every time I tee it up in a tournament, wherever it is, so there is no way I
can try harder because it's the Scottish Open at Royal Aberdeen, because I give it my best shot every week on the European Tour.
"Yes, if I did manage to beat this fantastic field that is gathering, it could revive my hopes of making the Ryder Cup team at Gleneagles in September.
"I cannot really blame my neck problems for falling way down the Ryder Cup points table. I just didn't play well enough to amass enough points.
"But winning the Scottish Open or even THE Open again would certainly put me in the Ryder Cup picture as one of the captain's picks.
"But even if I don't make the team, I would be prepared to help captain Paul McGinlay in any way he wants at Gleneagles ... from driving a buggy to getting the bottles of water.
"I am sure every European Tour player who doesn't make the team would say the same. We all want to do our bit, be part of the team effort." 
So what will it take to win the AAM Scottish Open at Balgownie. Who better to ask than Paul who plays the course three or five times a year?
"Richie Ramsay knows the course a lot better than I do so he has a big advantage, having grown up on the Balgownie links, as it were.
"But the key to playing links golf, wherever the venue, is to control the flight of the ball in what will almost certainly be a windy conditions for at least one of the days,"said Paul.
"There will be wind, there will be rain but all the European Tour players are used to playing in conditions like that so it would be wrong to say I am hoping that the Scottish Open will have a week of bad weather.
"Attitude also plays a big part in being able to cope with a links course. On a "normal" European tour course, if you hit a good shot, you get a good finish.
"But in links golf, you can get a bad bounce which sees a good shot finish up in a bad lie. I'm used to it. I've grown up playing my golf in the North-east of Scotland."