Lawrie to tee off alongside Villegas and Kaymer

Published on Tuesday 7 July 2009 22:55

FORMER Open champion Paul Lawrie has been handed one of the top afternoon tee times in the first round of the Barclays Scottish Open, where he'll partner two of the most promising players in world golf, Colombia's Camilo Villegas and Germany's Martin Kaymer, at 1pm.

The Aberdonian is also among the elite group of players invited by Barclays to take part in today's pro-am. It's the first time the winner at Carnoustie in 1999 has been asked to participate.

It was never clear why he was snubbed by the sponsors in previous years, prompting the Scot to describe his initial omission in 2006 as "scandalous".

Playing ten minutes ahead of Lawrie tomorrow on the first tee at 12:50am, Colin Montgomerie has fellow former champion Ernie Els and the aspiring Nick Dougherty for company.

Martin Laird, the first Scot since Sandy Lyle to compete on the US PGA Tour, makes his professional debut in Scotland with France's Jean-Baptiste Gonnet and England's Gary Lockerbie on the tenth tee at 9:10am.

David Drysdale, the leading Scot in the race to Dubai, partners Australia's Stuart Appleby and Spain's Gonzalo Fdez-Castano at 8:20am on the tenth, while the pick of the early three-balls is the pairing of Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Rory McIlroy at 8am on the tenth.