Butch Harmon would have tipped Paul Lawrie – if only he’d been playing

HAVING identified ball-striking as the most important part of the game for the US Open in San Francisco this week, Butch Harmon has admitted that Paul Lawrie would have been on his list of potential winners.

The former Open champion decided to sit out the season’s second major, believing his chances of making the European team for this year’s Ryder Cup would be better served by preparing for an important run of events starting in Germany next week.Lawrie was also influenced by a poor US Open record, the Aberdonian having missed the cut three times in the four straight appearances he made in the event starting in 2001.

Harmon said he respected that decision but, echoing a view expressed by former Ryder Cup captain Bernard Gallacher, the man who coaches Phil Mickelson reckons Lawrie is playing so well at the moment that he would have been in with a strong chance of landing the spoils on the Californian coast.

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Especially when Harmon is confident that solid ball-striking, something Lawrie has been renowned for throughout his career, will be more important than big-hitting at the Olympic Club, where the course has been set up much tougher than last year at The Congressional, where Rory McIlroy stormed to an eight-shot win with a score of 16 under par.

“I am surprised that Paul has chosen not to be there, especially on the form that he’s been in,” said the American. “I think Paul’s playing the best he’s probably ever played in his career. He is having the best year he’s had in a long time and seems to be in control of his golf swing very well. I would have thought he’d have done well this week and, remember, you do get Ryder Cup points for that. He has to set his schedule to what he’s comfortable with, but it’s too bad that he’s not going to be there.”

In Lawrie’s absence, it has been left to Martin Laird and Marc Warren to fly the Saltire in San Francisco, the latter having earned his place through a qualifier a fortnight ago.

According to Harmon, Warren is set for a baptism of fire as the 31-year-old prepares to make his first-ever appearance in a major. “He couldn’t have picked a harder course to make it on, so I think 300/1 [Warren’s odds] may be conservative,” he added.

As for Laird’s chances, Harmon said: “I think he is a very good player. He is solid, very good in all categories, I like his game. However, I don’t think his length will be much of an advantage because they are not going to get to hit their driver very often at the Olympic Club.”

The 16th, which, at 670 yards, is the longest hole in US Open history, will be one of the tees where players will get to open their shoulders. However, Harmon is looking more to the likes of players who are solid and straight than the big-hitters for his potential winner on Sunday. “I doubt whether the winning score will be under par,” he said. “I feel that it’s a golf course you are going to have to have complete control of your ball. It favours the ball striker, someone like a [Lee] Westwood or a [Sergio] Garcia, [Justin] Rose, [Jim] Furyk, Zach Johnson, those type of players.”

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