Paul Lawrie 'hitting it better than ever' as La Manga leaders are in Scot's sights
In-form Scot sits just three shots off lead in Champions UK plc European Senior Masters
Paul Lawrie reckons he’s hitting a golf “better than I ever hit it in my life” after putting his name up near the top of the leaderboard on the Staysure Legends Tour for the second week in a row.
The Aberdonian opened the Champions UK plc European Senior Masters with a five-under-par 68 on the South Course at Grand Hyatt La Manga Resort in Spain to sit just three shots off the lead, held by English duo Van Phillips and Matthew Cort.
The promising start came hot on the heels of Lawrie holding a one-shot lead heading into the final round of the Portugal Legends Championship last weekend before having to settle for fifth spot as South African Jean Hugo closed with a 62 to land that title.
“Honestly, I’m hitting it lovely, better than I’ve ever hit it in my life,” the 1999 Open champion told The Scotsman. “Yeah, I’m playing lovely, but I am putting poorly. Honest to God, I’ve just putted 18 there from 15 feet for a par 5 and I’ve missed six or seven chances.
“It was the same last week, even on the last day. I had 37 putts for level par. I mean, Jesus, you can’t play any better. But I am working at it. The putting is getting a bit better I am working with Sean [Lawrie], my nephew. We’ve only had a couple of lessons, so it is very early. But today was really poor. I putted awful today and shot five under.”
Lawrie’s most recent title triumph out of three he’s recorded on the over-50s’ circuit came in this event at the same venue. It’s bugged him that a number of opportunities have gone abegging since then.
“I’ve led in God knows how many tournaments - six or seven - over the last three or four years, but I have really been struggling in the final round,” he declared. “When things have started to go wrong, I’ve been terrible. So last week was alright. At least I gave it a little bit of a go and I felt I got a bit over my wee last-day hurdle.”
Stephen Gallacher, who tops the Staysure Legends Tour Order of Merit with four events remaining, sits one behind Lawrie, as does Alastair Forsyth, a rookie on the circuit this season.
“It was a solid start, especially after I’d played s*** in practice due to struggling a bit with my wrist,” said Gallacher. “But I played great today. No bogeys, which is always good, and it could have been three or four better.”
Forsyth, who has his son Robbie pulling his trolley, birdied the last to match Gallacher’s effort. “I missed one from 18 inches at the first but, apart from that, it was pretty good, hitting a lot of fairways and greens.”
Van Phillips reported that he’d been “really solid all day” in his pace-setting effort while it was a similar verdict from Cort as he assessed his bogey-free start.
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