Lawrie Will Be Right At Home In The Lone Star State

6 years ago by Comments Off on Lawrie Will Be Right At Home In The Lone Star State

Paul Lawrie has plenty of fellow Open Champion’s and European Tour fellow former colleagues to feel right at home when he makes his Champions Tour debut this week in Texas.

Lawrie turned 50 on the first day of the New Year but after dealing with an on-going foot injruy he’s made his way to north of Houston to tee-up for a first time in the lucrative Stateside senior ranks.

He tees-up in Friday’s starting £stg 1.68m Insperity Invitational where prolific seniors winning Bernhard Langer will be seeking to win for a fifth time in the 16-year history of the event.

Paul Lawrie’s introduction to the Over-50s brigage and that was hosting four youngster at the Woodlands club north of Houston. (Photo – @PaulLawrieGolf)

Joining Lawrie on the famed Woodlands course to the north of America’s fourth largest city is fellow Claret Jug champs in Tom Watson, Mark Calcavecchia, Tom Lehman, John Daly and Darren Clarke.

Also, greeting Lawrie to senior ranks is fellow Scot Colin Montgomerie, the Spanish duo of Jose Maria Olazabal and Miguel Angel Jimenez along with Barry Lane, Ian Woosnam and Langer.

Lawrie got his first look at the course on Tuesday when he was grouped for nine holes with four junior golfers.

“Very cool pro-am playing 9 holes with 4 junior golfers.  Thanks kids.  I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did”, he said via his Twitter account.

Later Tuesday, the oldies golfing brigade were entertained by KC & The Sunshine Band.

Lawrie’s near 10,000-mile round trip to Texas is the first time he’s ever competed in the Lone Star State while he’s making a first Stateside appearance since competing in the 2017 WGC – Bridgestone Invitational.

After fighting off injury earlier this year, Lawrie’s played just two events in 2019 that included missing the cut in both the Oman Open and Qatar Masters.

But with the encouragement from the likes of Jimenez, and a seven-time Champions Tour winner, Lawrie is raring to go in this new career chapter.

“Miguel told me ‘Listen, you will settle into the Champions Tour very quickly'”, said Lawrie.

“’You will realise that because you are competitive the Seniors Tour will give you your best chance of being competitive.’

“The good also is that I’m exempt into five of the six Senior Majors while I’ve already confirmed I will play the British Senior Open at Royal Lytham and the week after The Open.

“So, I will probably play six or seven events Stateside and mix that this first year with a few, and I did at the start of the year, the main European Tour such as the Scottish Open and Royal Portrush.

“As well, I am feeling a Senior Tour player which is not a bad feeling.

“Though I am still competitive as ever and I won’t be teeing-up in the Seniors looking to make-up the numbers, as I’ll be looking forward to winning some tournaments”.

 



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