interview with Paul
Aberdeen FC and Paul Lawrie have teamed up to create an exclusive range of golfing merchandise that is now available in the AFC Club shop. The Former Open Champion and Ryder Cup hero took time out recently to speak to RedMatchday at the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre in Aberdeen. He started by looking back at his 2013….
“So far, it has been extremely disappointing. Obviously last year was very good and I did a lot of good work over the winter. I was feeling very fresh despite the excursions of 2012 and came out and finished seventh in the Volvo Championship, the first event of the year, and should have been higher. Every week since then has been the same story. I have hit less fairways, I have hit less greens and I have taken more putts – that is not a good combination when you are a golfer! I could have been a couple of shots better every round. I have also struggled mentally, as I have expected to get a lot more from the season than I have. That becomes quite difficult and my confidence has not been the best.
“It is such a fine line between winning and missing the cut. Even if you had two shots less every day, you could just about win every week. Two shots is a lot. It is a frustrating game, but that is why we love it so much and why we continue playing.”
For Paul and the golfing world in Scotland, there is much to look forward to 2014 as the Ryder Cup returns to the country that invented the game for the first time since 1973, the first time it has been held in this country since the UK and Ireland became a European team and the Ryder Cup became one of the biggest sporting events in the calendar.
“The Ryder Cup dominates everyone’s thinking these days as it is such a massive tournament. Obviously with the event being in Scotland, all the Scottish boys, not just myself, are desperate to try and get in the team, but only 12 players can. You have a couple of hundred players trying to get into a 12 man team, so not everyone is going to be able to play. I am outside the top 50 in the world rankings at the moment, and you cannot get in the team from outside the top 50. You cannot get into enough big events such as the World Golf Events and the Majors to get enough qualifying points to make it. So my first goal has to be to get into the top 50 as soon as possible and if I do not do that, I will not be at Gleneagles.
“Paul McGinlay is going to be a fantastic captain. Already he is coming out with the right stuff. He is very diligent and no stone will be left unturned. He is going to be well prepared and he will have done his homework. I have known him a long time as we were at the same tour school in 1991 so we have been out there exactly the same length of time. He is a great lad and I have always got on well with him. I would love to play for him.
“There are always three or four of the top players who do not make it into the automatic places and this year there is one less automatic place than last time as Paul has given himself an extra pick. Henrik Stenson will be in the team, there is no doubt about that. He has had an amazing run. He was 290th in the world in February 2012 and now he is third or fourth. So that will mean that there will be one player from Medinah not making the team, but there is always three or four changes from one event to the next.
“If I was to give a tip of an outsider who might make the team, Joost Luiten is a hell of a player that a lot of people don’t know much about. The Dutchman has won twice this year and I cannot see him not being in the team. I have played with Joost a couple of times and he just flushes it. He a nice guy as well”.
Whilst on tour, Paul keeps a close eye on how his beloved Dons are doing, mainly to see how much flak he is going to get from his fellow professionals!
“I have not managed to get along much this season as I have been away a lot and then the weeks I have been home, they have been playing away. They are obviously playing very well and they are on a good run and the confidence is pretty high.
“The results this season have saved me so much grief on tour! On a Saturday afternoon it is good fun because whoever you are playing with supports a team somewhere. Then when we have dinner at night, the banter continues. Normally I am the boy who gets all the stick! It’s all good fun, life on tour would be pretty boring if you did not have the banter.
“It is great to see the Dons picking up results and going well. If they can keep everybody fit then I think it could be a good season”.
There could be another Dons fan, and another Lawrie, on the European Tour in the years to come. Craig Lawrie has followed in his father’s footsteps by pursuing a career in professional golf at the age of 18.
“It was his decision. We have known for a long time that he would probably pick that route. He gave up the football years ago and has been playing a lot of golf over the last couple of years. He has picked that road and he knows from spending time with me that there are an awful lot of good players out there and that he is going to have to work hard to make the break through but it is an exciting time for the family and exciting for him. We will give him all the support he needs”.
Although life on tour is extremely demanding, Paul still takes the time to put something back into the game. The Paul Lawrie Foundation has taught and encouraged thousands of young golfers to play and enjoy the game.
“The Foundation is still going really well. It has been a busy summer. Michael MacDougall joined us at the beginning of the year as Foundation Manager. He previously had been Secretary of The PGA in Scotland for a number of years.
“We have added a few events and we also have some new ideas for next year. We are going to be adding some Pro- Ams for kids to play in where we will go to golf clubs and add in the pros. There will be at least 18 kids from the clubs who will get to play with a professional for the day. I think that is the main thing that is missing at the moment, the mentoring side. This will help the kids to play properly and for example teach them how to concentrate on the course management side of things. They will learn a huge amount from the Pro-Am. We are looking at doing four or five of them as a minimum”.
For more information about the fantastic work Paul and his Foundation does please visit www.paullawriefoundation.co.uk and to have a look at the AFC Paul Lawrie golf range please go to www.afc.co.uk/shop
