Open 2009: Lawrie dismisses claims that Love ridiculed him in 1999 as 'nonsense'

TEN years after Paul Lawrie won the Open at Carnoustie, the only Scot apart from Sandy Lyle to lift the Claret Jug finds himself grouped on the Ailsa with Davis Love III at Turnberry in a pairing which still raises eyebrows.

The major winners, who also played together at Troon five years ago, get along fine these days and the American has long insisted an acerbic quote attributed to him that the championship in 1999 got the winner it deserved was a work of pulp fiction.

"There was some nonsense in the papers (at Troon] because we were playing together," Lawrie recalled on the practice range yesterday. "He came over to me on the putting green and said: 'I never said that and I would never say that about a fellow professional.' I replied that was fine and didn't have a problem. He told me he didn't say it, so why would I think otherwise? I've played with Davis a few times now and he's always been brilliant. There's no issue."

Lawrie can't see an advantage for the nine home-based players in the field this week because 15 years have elapsed since the championship was last held on the bonnie links.

"I don't think it gives the Scots in the field any advantage that the Open hasn't been to Turnberry for 15 years," he observed. "You've got 150-odd world-class players here and I don't think it matters that many of them won't have played the course before. These guys can all play. It's the biggest golf tournament in the world, so it's not easy to win.

"I played here in 1994 when Nick Price won and did all right. I finished 24th and had been only on Tour for a couple of years, so it was a nice week. It's a great course and they've made a few changes."

As a stalwart Aberdonian, Lawrie knows how to play in wind and rain and won't feel his knees knocking if the forecast for mixed weather proves accurate. "My mind-frame is that I don't mind when the weather is horrible," remarked the man whose winning total of 290 at Carnoustie was the highest in more than 50 years.

"You haven't got much choice, so you have to get on with it. But a lot of guys do mind when it's howling a gale and pouring with rain. I just get on with it."

Having finished 25th in his national championship on Sunday and with a top ten at the Estoril Open earlier this summer, Lawrie added: "I am in a very positive frame of mind. At Loch Lomond I played really, really well from tee to green and hit a lot of good shots. I feel good."

As well as possessing a talent for performing on the big occasion, Lawrie also has a track record as a tipster. When I played a few holes with him at Carnoustie before the championship went back to the Angus links in 2007, the Scot picked out Padraig Harrington as the golfer best equipped to end Europe's drought in the majors.

Now that Harrington has collected two Opens and a US PGA title, attention has turned to the lack of a British major winner over the past decade.

"With the talent we've got in Britain it's a little bit surprising that there hasn't been a winner since 1999," Lawrie agreed.

"I notice Harrington won again at the weekend in the Irish PGA. It's not the strongest of fields, but the fact that he won the tournament will have done him a lot of good. He'll be there or thereabouts this week.

"Paul Casey is playing really and is overdue a win but, for me, Lee Westwood has the best chance. I picked him a couple of years and I can't believe he's not won one by now. He's such a good player now. Lee has worked a lot on his fitness and he looks better. He's hitting it so far. At Loch Lomond the stats showed he was the longest and straightest. That's a nice combination.

"My chances? I don't see why not. I'm playing good enough in spells. Around Turnberry if the weather is kind of poor, it's not about how far you hit it, it's about getting it in the hole. There is no point in being anything other than positive. I don't like shouting about it, but I like links golf. I'm here to win this week."