Sadly, it was while I was out in Abu Dhabi earlier this year when I learnt my good friend Dougie Lowe was suffering from a brain tumour.

As a contributer to the Daily Record along with the Scottish Herald it was hard to fathom when also informed someone of Dougie’s character would probably never return to report on the European Tour.

However to then learn today (MON) from Jim Black (The Scottish Sun) that Dougie had passed away was a tremendous shock.

I first met Dougie in 2003 and soon after he had been appointed golf correspondent for the Herald.

Dougie quickly settled into life on the Tour and I remember his immense delight in being afforded the job of covering the Walker Cup later that year in the States.

But it was early in 2004 when I better got to know Dougie.

Relaxing during Masters week at the Soul Bar in downtown Augusta with Dougie (right) and Karl MacGinty (left)

That was when Dougie travelled to Australia.  So excited to be out covering golf he brought himself an around-the-world ticket.

Dougie penned in coverage of the co-sanctioned Heineken Classic in Melbourne and the ANZ Championship just north of Sydney.

I can still picture the look of delight on his face when Kathy Shearer offered him a spot in the Pro-Am on Royal Melbourne.  We had  great time that morning.

Next week we made out way to the ANZ Championship being played some two hours drive north of Sydney at picturesque Nelson Bay.

It was the year Laura Davies accepted a highly-controversial sponsor’s invitation to compete against the men.

We hired a beach cottage for the week and Dougie was simply in his element, surfing every morning before breakfast and then heading off to cover the event.  We then all gather around the bar-b-que wher Dougie would delight us with his unique brand of humour.

Davies finished last in the field that week but it was Dougie that came out on tops.

Next stop on his reporting schedule was the WGC – Accenture Match Play Championship in California.

Dougie headed off to the States looking so tanned and relaxed.

I recall also the 2008 U.S. Masters and spending most evenings in the company of Dougie including some memorable sessions at the Soul Bar in downtown Augusta.  It’s a bar that’s a tribute to James Brown but it will be difficult not to think of Dougie when we go there next month.

Dougie! The first toast will be to you.

There also was the fun a few years back at an Italian Open media outing when he and good friend, Norman Dabell were chastised by their Italian female companion for not saving her pull drolley as it rolled backwards into a water hazard.

Dougie then found himself in a real muddle when presented with a large cardboard box containing a fax machine that was his prize as the leading ‘international’ player.  His first thoughts were how to get the prize on board his homeward Ryan Air flight.

Last July, my partner and fellow European Tour journalist, Fatiha Betscher joined Jim (Black) in spending the week of last year’s Barclays Scottish Open as guests of Dougie in his Helensburgh apartment.

I teased him often about a pile of un-ironed washing in the corner but Dougie was a great host that week.

Fatiha cooked meals and Dougie entertained us with more of his tales and jokes.

Bizarrely, as you looked out his lounge room window you could easily see the steeple of the church from where we would say our final farewell to Dougie.

Dougie – you were a super colleague, a trusted friend and you’ll be very sadly missed.