Whether a role inside or outside the ropes, Paul Lawrie is looking to celebrate a 25th European Tour season being on the flight later this to Hazeltine.
Lawrie got his New Year underway last week with a mid-field finish in the Joburg Open ahead of contesting this week’s Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, and the first the now traditional three event ‘Desert Swing’.
Three weeks into a new season and the Abu Dhabi event is the first showdown of 2016 with World No. 1 Jordan Spieth making his UAE debut and supported by Rory McIlroy, Sweden’s Henrik Stenson and American Rickie Fowler, the respective World’s No. three, five and seven.
Scotland’s Russell Knox, and the country’s top-ranked player at No. 31, is making his debut not only in the event but as a full European Tour member and with qualifying automatically for this year’s Ryder Cup.
Lawrie’s a veteran of two victorious European Team’s and if he did not qualify automatically for Darren Clarke’s side, the Aberdonian believes he has the experience, and more importantly a rapport with Clarke, to be among one of Northern Irishman’s five vice-captains.
“To be there as a player would take a hell of an achievement, and I am not saying you can’t do it, but from I am now would require me to win two to three big, big events,” he said.
“So it would be a bit of a stretch I would say to qualify automatically.
“But then as far as being a vice-captain then that’s up to Darren to decide, and when he does pick his five vice-captains I am sure he will let those people know.
Paul Lawrie now sporting a ‘Cardinal’ line of clothing on his shirt (Photo -www.golfbytourmiss.com)
“I would love to help him if he wants me to do it, and I am not saying he has or he will but then you would not say ‘no’ to that and nobody would.
“I do think he needs people who have been there before and if not for anything else, just someone to speak to even though I don’t think anyone is going to be making decisions for him. He’s the captain and the guy who in the end, has to say ‘yah’ or ‘nah’.
“But then it would make sense picking vice-captain’s he knows would be beneficial.
“The good thing is Darren and I have always got on with him and we both came onto the Tour about the same time, as he began in 1991 and I started full time a year later.
“Whenever we play we always have a good time so we’ll see.”
Clarke’s leadership, and his first taste of team captaincy, at last week’s EurAsia Cup was very impressive and he’s been widely applauded and in the process quickly dispelling any myths he was not up for the Hazeltine role.
As well, his Kuala Lumpur wildcard picks in Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter proved pivotal in Europe’s 13-point demolition of Asia.
Paul ‘Whiskers’ Lawrie. (Photo – www.golfbytourmiss.com)
And Clarke admitted too, that while he was difficult to deal with in his earlier playing career, he’s now matured and also mellowed.
It is a trait that Lawrie has also noticed in his fellow Open Champion.
“He does look like he’s going to make a great captain and it’s amazing how many people you speak to, and if you take away the big cigars and the Guinness he’s actually a very clever boy,” said Lawrie.
He’s very professional, works hard but then he’s got this thing that people think he’s just out to have a good time and it’s not about that, so I think he will be brilliant as a Ryder Cup Captain.
“Then to pick Lee Westwood and Poults (Ian Poulter) for last week was a great idea and the experience those two must have passed on to those young kids in the team was huge”.
Lawrie is overcoming not only the sadness of seeing his two-year old Paul Lawrie Golf Centre at Deeside getting back to normality after being flooded under 15-feet of water thanks to ‘Storm Frank’.
“The flood was over the main roof in the main building and we were on holiday when it happened and rushed home early,” he said.
“We’ve only owned it for two-and-a-bit years and all of a sudden you are hit with that but then I have spoken to all the directors and they all committed to get the Centre back on it’s feet so that’s good news for the staff and everyone.
“But they’re had a flood like that since 1924 and it happens again in the next 80 years it will be alright as I will be long gone.”
