Paul Lawrie recovers to record first title triumph in nine years

A FORTNIGHT before his teenage son steps on to the biggest stage of his career in the Scottish Boys' Championship, Paul Lawrie showed there is life in the old dog yet when he recovered from a nightmare start to win his first European Tour title in nearly nine years yesterday.

One in front heading into the final round of the Andalucia Open, the 42-year-old Aberdonian started with two dropped shots to immediately fall two shots behind playing partner Mark Foster after the Englishman, in contrast, opened with a brace of birdies at Parador Golf in Malaga.

Lawrie, who'd only had one bogey in the first 54 holes, then dropped his third shot of the day at the fifth but gradually clawed his way back into contention, helped by the fact Foster undid his good work at the start by running up three successive bogeys from the fifth.

Admitting afterwards he knew he could overcome his sticky start if he remained patient, Lawrie delivered a telling burst at the start of the back nine, the 1999 Open champion reeling off three birdies in a row from the tenth before adding another one at the 14th.

Three steady pars gave him a two-shot cushion heading up the last and, despite signing off with a bogey after hitting his approach into a greenside bunker, a closing 70 for a 12-under-par of 268 was enough to give the Scot a sixth victory in his European Tour career.

He finished one clear of Swede Johan Edfors, the 2006 Scottish Open champion, with Chilean Felipe Aguilar a further shot back in third. Scottish rookie Scott Jamieson produced another excellent performance in finishing in a tie for 11th after a closing 68 but the day belonged to his more experienced compatriot as Lawrie returned to the winner's circle on the European Tour for the first time since his victory in the 2002 Celtic Manor Wales Open.

This was his 232nd event since that triumph and, having knocked on the door so many times - he had finished second six times over the past nine years, the last being the 2008 Portugal Masters - Lawrie admitted he was delighted to become a winner again. "It has been a long time," he beamed after clinching a first prize of just under 150,000. "There's been a few seconds in there but, all of a sudden, I'm there again - it is very nice.

"The Scottish PGA (at Gleneagles in 2005) was still a win to me but 2002 seems a hell of a long time ago. I played lovely all week and the putter behaved a little better.

"After the poor start (today] I just had to stay patient. It was going pear-shaped a little bit, but you've just got to keep going - that's all you can do. The wind was swirling and it wasn't easy. I played beautiful early on the back nine.It was a nice run at the right time."

The win confirmed Lawrie, who succeeds Open champion Louis Oosthuizen in winning an event that was also claimed by Andrew Oldcorn in 1993, as a proven front-runner, having now won five of his six European Tour titles when leading or sharing the lead going into the final round. The notable exception, of course, was when he claimed the Claret Jug at Carnoustie in 1999 by making up a final-round deficit of ten shots.

His success is the first by a Scot on the European Tour since fellow Aberdonian Richie Ramsay won the South African Open 16 months ago, with Lawrie also striking a notable blow for the over-40s on a circuit where youth has increasingly become the dominant force. Indeed, he is the oldest winner since 47-year-old Miguel Angel Jimnez triumphed in last year's Omega European Masters.

Lawrie, who gains an exemption until the end of the 2012 season, started the event as the world No 272 - he was as high as 29th in 2000 - but will climb up more than 100 places.

While the Scot set off in the final round with back-to-back bogeys, Foster birdied both holes from 12 and 40 feet and, at 13-under-par, led by two. However, the Englishman threw the event wide open again with his three-successive dropped shots. He drove against a tree at the first of them, three-putted the next and then came up short of the green on the seventh. A 14-footer at the tenth was the turning point for Lawrie. He followed it with a 25ft putt and chipped close on both the 12th and 14th, the two par-5s on the Parador course.

To his immense relief it did not matter that he missed from under three feet in between those last two birdies or that he dropped a shot at the last, Lawrie punching the air in delight after sinking a six-inch putt to clinch his victory. "I must say that I felt under control even when I was above par at the start, and when you get into that attitude good things happen," he added. "I've always been a good putter, but these last years I couldn't get it into the hole. This week they went in."

Edfors was left to rue a three-putt bogey on the 15th after he had drawn level three times, but with a 68 he pushed Aguilar into third spot.Foster, who like Lawrie was chasing his first victory in more than 200 European Tour starts going back in his case to 2003 and who had also let a three-stroke lead slip in last year's Spanish Open, slipped back into a tie for fourth.

Meanwhile, Kenneth Ferrie, who equalled the European Tour record with his 60 in the third round, crashed back to earth with a bump as a 75 sent him tumbling down to joint 11th.

PREVIOUS WINS

1996 Catalan Open

His maiden Tour triumph came in an event reduced to 36 holes by bad weather in Tarragona.

1999 Qatar Masters

Shot rounds of 68, 65, 67 and 68 in windy conditions in Doha to win by seven strokes.

1999 Open Championship

Made up ten shots in the final round before birdieing the last two holes in a play-off at Carnoustie.

2001 Dunhill Links

Holed a 40-foot birdie putt from the 'Valley of Sin' to pip Ernie Els for the title at St Andrews.

2002 Wales Open

Twelve months after losing a play-off in the same event, he recorded a five-shot win at Celtic Manor.