It took so long for the European Tour to reach Aberdeen that Paul Lawrie has started his own tournament to make sure it stayed.
The 1999 Open champion and two-time Ryder Cup captain has become the first major player on the European Tour to start his own event, the Saltire Energy Paul Lawrie Matchplay, to be staged at Murcar Links next July.
The event has the backing of Saltire, one of Lawrie’s long-time sponsors, with other Aberdeen companies set to come on board.
A field of 64 will play for a prize fund of one million euro from July 30 to August 2, with the event signed up for an initial three-year run on the Tour’s international schedule.
It means Lawrie has put his name and backing to events at all levels in Scotland, and once a new Johnnie Walker tournament at Gleneagles is confirmed, Scotland could host up to five European Tour events a season.
Lawrie admitted that a vague idea to start his own event had accelerated on the back of the success of the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open at Royal Aberdeen last July.
“It had been at the back of my mind to do this for a long time after all who wouldn’t want a tournament in their own town?” he said.
“But the decision to go and make it happen came at the media day for the Scottish Open at Royal Aberdeen when someone in the room asked if there were any plans to come back after 2014.
“That’s when I wondered if I could set up something, so I went to see (managing director) Mike Loggie at Saltire Energy who have been so great for the community and has put a lot of money into the area.
“I had a meeting with him and he said let’s do it, let’s get it together.”
He continued: “This event is obviously going to start smaller than the Scottish Open, but we hope to build it into something big slowly but surely.”
Lawrie has never been shy about backing events in his home country, and the original plan was to grow his Invitational tournament into a Challenge Tour event.
“But then we just thought, let’s go all-out with this instead,” he said. “I’ve only really spoken to the Scottish lads on tour about it, but I hear as the news has started to come out there has been chat about it in Turkey and the reaction has been brilliant.
“I think they appreciate the amount of work that is involved in putting a tournament on and it’s good to have another tournament in Scotland.
“It’s not an ego thing, I didn’t even really want my name on it to be honest.
“I just think it’s important to put back. I’ve had a pretty good career, I’ve made quite a bit of money and done well from where I’ve started, and the idea is to give back as much as you possibly can.”
He’s done that at all levels, from his own Foundation in the northeast backing players of all ages, through two men’s Tartan Tour events and sponsorship of the Ladies Tartan Tour and the Scottish Boys’ Championships in the past.
The choice of matchplay fills the gap on tour left by the demise of the Volvo Matchplay event for the man-on-man format, and Lawrie feels it is well-suited for the traditional links at Murcar, which lies just to the north of Royal Aberdeen’s Balgownie Links.
“There will be plenty birdies, and it will be exciting to watch,” continued Lawrie. “We have plans for the ticket prices to be very reaonable because I want people to come and enjoy the event, to see all these top European golfers come and play in my home city.
“We want a lot of people enjoying the week so much that they go away thinking ‘man, I must go back to that event next year’.”