Doak takes out host Lawrie at Murcar Links

EUROPEAN TOUR COMMUNICATIONS Chris Doak emerged the victor of the all-Scottish second round tie at the Saltire Energy Paul Lawrie Matchplay, taking down tournament host and local hero Lawrie in a thrilling encounter which went all the way to the 18th hole of Murcar Links Golf Club. While the standard of golf may not have been world class, Doak and Lawrie enjoyed a great battle, with Doak taking a one stroke lead on to the 18th tee. Two wild drives saw the players 150 yards apart for their approach shots, with Doak carving a wild slice into the public village before Lawrie hooked his ball towards the second green. Doak’s ball came to rest in a bunker (part of the nine hole Strabathie Course at Murcar which is being used as the public village for the tournament) which had been deemed ground under repair, thus entitling the 37 year old to a free drop. Lady luck was certainly on Doak’s side as he took his drop on a perfect lie with a perfect angle to access the front left pin. His approach found the green, 20 feet past the flag. Lawrie, meanwhile, had a devilish angle of attack and could only watch on agonisingly as his attempt to find the green landed on top of the greenside bunker but bounced back into a plugged lie in the sand against the vertical face of the trap.  Lawrie played a miraculous bunker shot but was left to watch on as Doak hit a fine birdie putt to within a couple of inches, sending the 1999 Open Champion to an early exit. Doak will face David Howell in round three after the English took down Scotland’s David Drysdale 6&4. Doak is joined in round three by countrymen Richie Ramsay and Marc Warren after their respective wins over Edoardo Molinari and Fabrizio Zannoti. Warren will face Nicolas Colsaerts on Saturday morning, while Ramsay takes on Morten Ørum Madsen. There will an all-Swedish last 16 match up with Johan Carlsson (conqueror of Number One seed James Morrison in round two) takes on former European Number One Robert Karlsson. The last 16 will face off in the straight knock-out on Saturday morning, before the quarter finals take place in the afternoon. The semi-finals and final will be played on Sunday. Player Quotes Chris Doak: “It's fantastic to beat anybody, but Paul being such a good player and being the host of the tournament makes it a little bit extra special I guess. I've not really played my best and Paul certainly never played his best today, but I'm getting there and building confidence, which is the main thing. I just love the links turf and the format. It's nice to be here. It's just great to play match play. Long may it continue because this is a fantastic event.” Paul Lawrie: “I played horrendous today. Hit it really, really poorly. And you can't get off with hitting the ball as poorly as that. Made no putts and you can't hit the ball any worse than that to be fair but all the best to Chris, he dug in. The two of us didn't play very well and were all over the place at times but he made the four he needed to make at the last. That's match play. Obviously I am disappointed, gutted, to be knocked out but when you play like that at this kind of level, you very kind of seldom get off with it. No qualms about it. It's just how it is.” Richie Ramsay: “I knew it was going to be very tough today. Edoardo is a class player and he's done very well in Scotland. When he gets going with the putter, he's probably one of the best in the world on the greens. But I just played really steady golf. Played really good. Made a few putts, which was nice. I needed to, because we halved three holes in birdies. And then steady down the stretch, especially when the wind got up and the rain came in. Very pleased with the day's work.”   Marc Warren: “I feel as if my long game was really good. I wasn't giving anything away tee-to-green, and then obviously going up against a tough opponent again who played really well. It was a really good match I thought in the end. I think when you get by the first round, all the pressure kind of goes away. I wouldn't have said there’s any more or any less pressure. If I play well and my opponent  plays well and he beats me, then fair enough. We've seen that yesterday, perfect example of that, and again today. I think we both played well again today. Just holed a couple kind of crucial putts in the last few holes to get through. Playing Nicolas will be good - obviously he has a really good match-play record and has won a match-play tournament before and has Ryder Cup experience. Yeah, it will be a really tough game, but like I said, I feel as if I'm playing well, so if I can keep that kind of standard tee-to-green, maybe hole one or two more putts, then hopefully a good match again.” Complete Round Two Results Time Player Player 11:25 AM Match 33 Chris WOOD (ENG) 5&4 vs Jorge CAMPILLO (ESP) 11:35 AM Match 34 Julien QUESNE (FRA) 4&3 vs Jeev Milkha SINGH (IND) 11:45 AM Match 35 Seve BENSON (ENG) vs Grégory HAVRET (FRA) 2&1 11:55 AM Match 36 Michael HOEY (NIR) 5&4 vs Kristoffer BROBERG (SWE) 12:05 PM Match 37 Alex LEVY (FRA) vs Morten Ørum MADSEN (DEN) 4&3 12:15 PM Match 38 Richie RAMSAY (SCO) 4&3 vs Edoardo MOLINARI (ITA) 12:25 PM Match 39 Tyrrell HATTON (ENG) 4&2 vs Mikael LUNDBERG (SWE) 12:35 PM Match 40 Matthew FITZPATRICK (ENG) vs Peter UIHLEIN (USA) 19th 12:50 PM Match 41 David HOWELL (ENG) 6&4 vs David DRYSDALE (SCO) 13:00 PM Match 42 Chris DOAK (SCO) 1 Hole vs Paul LAWRIE (SCO) 13:10 PM Match 43 Kiradech APHIBARNRAT (THA) 3&2 vs Graeme STORM (ENG) 13:20 PM Match 44 Thomas AIKEN (RSA) 2 Holes vs Andrew DODT (AUS) 13:30 PM Match 45 James MORRISON (ENG) vs Johan CARLSSON (SWE) 2&1 13:40 PM Match 46 Alejandro CAÑIZARES (ESP) vs Robert KARLSSON (SWE) 4&3 13:50 PM Match 47 Marc WARREN (SCO) 3&2 vs Fabrizio ZANOTTI (PAR) 14:00 PM Match 48 Nicolas COLSAERTS (BEL) 4&3 vs Trevor FISHER JNR (RSA) - Ends -