ABERDONIAN'S WORLD RANKING FELL FROM No 99 to 284

PAUL LAWRIE'S YEAR TO FORGET 

Photo by Associated Press

Paul Lawrie missed six cuts out of 16 events on the European Tour in 2014.

• FROM GOLFWEEK.COM
• By Alistair Tait
• 
  
• Follow Me: Twitter @GolfweekTait

Over the final two weeks of 2014, GolfWeek.com has been  highlighting players that rose and fell over the past 12 months in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings.
Check out the entire series here.
• • •

Paul Lawrie

World Ranking/movement: Down 185 places (No. 284 from No. 99)
Why the fall? Paul Lawrie had a season to forget. The 1999 Open Championship winner made only 10 of 16 cuts, earned 209,526 euros and finished 117th on the European money list. If not for his top-40 status in career money (25th to start 2014), the Scot would have lost his card this past season.
Lawrie’s stats don’t look much different from last season’s. For example, he hit 55.99 percent of fairways compared with 57.62 percent last year, and his stroke average was 71.30 compared with 71.22 in 2013.
There’s a fine line between success and failure, and Lawrie was on the wrong side all year.
He began the year positively with a T-11 in the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters. Little did Lawrie know that it would be his best finish of the season.
“This year was a disaster,” said Lawrie, who won twice in 2012 and was on the winning European Ryder Cup team. “Of the 16 events I played, I was probably fit for no more than five of them.
“I’ve never had a year like this, with so many injuries. I had a trapped nerve at the start of the year. I had some back issues. My foot’s played up quite a bit too. I’ve been injury-free throughout my career, but it all sort of caught up with me this season.”
Lawrie also has been busy organizing tournaments and working for his foundation to help promising young golfers. 
Lawrie will back events on the Tartan Tour, EuroPro Tour and European Tour next year (the Saltire Energy Paul Lawrie Match Play at Murcar Links) in late July). However, his main focus still is on playing.
“I’ve felt better the last couple of months,” he said. “I’ve been hitting balls every day and working hard.”
Lawrie says: “I’m looking forward to 2015 and putting this year behind me.”