Trolley bad luck is blow for Paul Lawrie

Luckless former Open champion Paul Lawrie has been forced to pull out of this week's Irish Open after sustaining a freak back injury lifting his son's golf trolley.

The Aberdonian, who has also seen his summer play disrupted by a neck problem, did the damage over the weekend when lifting son Michael's Powakaddy from the boot of his car.

Lawrie ended his nine-year wait for a European Tour title at the Andalucia Open in March and followed that up with back-to-back top-five finishes.

But the 42-year-old, who sits 43rd in the Race to Dubai rankings, missed the French Open with the neck injury and now sits out the Tour event at Killarney which begins today.

Lawrie, the 1999 Open winner at Carnoustie, said: "On Saturday, as I was taking Michael's Powakaddy out of the boot I felt my back go a bit and was only able to hit a few balls before I had to stop. My back was still stiff on Sunday so I didn't play any golf. I lay on the couch and watched the Celtic versus Hibs game on ESPN and tried to stretch my back most of the day.

"I then popped down to Deeside on Monday for a few holes to try the back out, but it was still really sore so I decided not to play this week."