Former Open Champion Paul Lawrie admitted there was no chance he would miss Aberdeen FC’s League Cup final showdown to compete for a first time in this week’s Hassan 11 Trophy at Agadir in Morocco.

The 45-year-old Aberdonian has stayed at home to cheer on Derek McInnes’ side against Inverness CT at Celtic Park in Glasgow on Sunday.

“Morocco is not an event that I have ever played in before,” said Lawrie.

“But I would have played this year as I have not been playing much. So I am missing it for the football.

“I am a big fan of the club and have been since I was a little boy. I am very excited.

Paul Lawrie not about to miss his beloved Aberdeen playing in Sunday’s Scottish FC Cup final. (Photo – SNS)

“There’s a whole generation of Aberdeen fans who have never seen the club lift the trophy or play in a final. I’m old enough that I have but I’m looking forward to it, there’s eight of us going down, myself and my wife and my two boys and friends of ours. Certainly my two boys are pretty excited and they are really looking forward to going down on Sunday – perhaps more than me because they’ve never seen Aberdeen at this stage

“So it wasn’t a big decision to make. I was always going to go to the final.”

Lawrie has been relatively quite on the golf scene this year.

He’s played just  three events and they were the three on the ‘Desert Swing’ with results of MC in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, T11th in the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters and an event he’s won twice, and then T54th in the Omege Dubai Desert Classic.

Lawrie is also currently ranked 133rd in the world and down 24 spots on his 109th at the end of 2013.

And Lawrie will know all too well that not being into the opening two majors of 2014 will put strain on his goal to play in this year’s Ryder Cup.