Paul Lawrie believes his friend Stephen Gallacher will “absolutely love” the pressure and expectation on his Ryder Cup debut and will give him vocal backing from the gallery at Gleneagles.
The friends are due to sit down for a chat this week at the ISPS Handa Wales Open at Celtic Manor as Gallacher picks Lawrie’s brains about what he can expect when he tees it up for Europe on home soil.
Lawrie had hoped to be part of the European team again either on or off the course, but, despite being disappointed on both counts, is going to give his full support to the team by attending his first Ryder Cup as a spectator.
“It’ll be nae great,” he answered when asked how it would feel to be there and not involved. “But I’m still going, and looking forward to enjoying what should be a fantastic event and atmosphere.
“We’re going down on Friday and I’ll be walking round with Stevie, hopefully on the Saturday if he plays and definitely on the Sunday.
“It will feel a bit weird. Obviously I wanted to play but I can’t, so I just have to look forward to watching.”
He has every confidence in his friend to excel next week, although he well recalls his own nerves when he hit the opening tee shot of the contest at Brookline in 1999.
“We’ll have a bite to eat this week and anything Stevie wants to run past me is fine, obviously,” continued Lawrie.
“I remember when I played practice rounds (at Brookline) with Monty, he said that it all happens pretty quickly and you have to take your time.
“Everything is speeded up. Walk at normal pace, that’s important. You can find yourself rushing off when you’re under pressure.
“But Stevie will know all that, he doesn’t need me to tell him. He’ll love it, absolutely love it.”
The pressure will be something that Gallacher, despite winning two Dubai Desert Classics, will not have experienced before, continued Lawrie.
“Stevie’s been in pressure situations before, when he was defending in Dubai, he played with Tiger and Rory, so he knows what it’s all about.
“Having said that, he has to magnify those experiences by 10, just to get an idea of the feelings he’ll experience.
“But the crowd will help. He’ll know that most of them are there to watch him. And the first time he plays will be amazing. The place will be bouncing.”
Lawrie played in 1999 and 2012 two of the most dramatic Ryder Cups of all and was a colour commentator for Sky Sports at Celtic Manor in 2010, but has never been as part of the gallery, and he doesn’t see any reason to be different than he is at his regular winter Saturday haunt. I’m going to enjoy it, get into it, be pulling for all the boys to play well.
“I’m a pretty big shouter at Pittodrie, I get right into it. And I’ll absolutely be giving it all of that at Gleneagles!”
Lawrie has often said that commentating at Celtic Manor convinced him to redouble his push to get back on the European team two years later.
“I found out quite early on I wasn’t cut out for that,” he admitted.
“I enjoyed the studio bit, answering questions, but live commentating was really difficult. I didn’t take to it very well and I’m not going to do something I’m not very good at.”
Lawrie is hoping for a good week at the site of one of his tour victories in 2002, but admits that he’s struggled to find his game this year.
‘It’s nice to come back to a place where I’ve done well before but the game is not great,” he said.
“I was all right last week but then had a nightmare finish, lost a ball and bogeyed with the second ball for a triple bogey, then bogeyed the last three holes. I was inside the top 20 with four holes to play.
“I’ve been working hard but it’s just not happening.”