Paul Lawrie’s start and finish of his first round in the 150th Open will live long in the memory. The bit in the middle, not so much.
But that’s OK. A 74 might not be everything he wanted but the 1999 champion has already plenty to celebrate this week.
Nearly a full stand to see the first shot – at 6.30am
The wait is finally over.@PaulLawriegolf gets a landmark Championship under way🏌️#The150thOpen pic.twitter.com/ZEjzpuUtnu
— The Open (@TheOpen) July 14, 2022
Hitting the first shot of the championship for a second time with a yellow ball – “my eyesight’s not as good at 53 as it was at 23” – was a highlight. Ever modest, Lawrie didn’t expect to see a nearly full stand of fans at 6.35am to greet him.
But they gave a him a rousing send-off, and more were there to see him four hours later almost hole out his tee-shot on 18, hitting a driver to five feet and holing it for eagle.
“I fancy my chances hitting that fairway even with a 3-iron,” he joked. I didn’t feel bad this morning, nerves-wise.
“I was surprised how many people were there, to be honest. I wasn’t expecting that. I thought there would be a few, but the stand on the right was pretty full.
“Nice to see all the people. You always get great support here, don’t you? It’s always cool.
“It’s just a nice thing to be asked to do. Obviously, Mr Slumbers phoned me a couple weeks ago and asked if I’d do it. And the first thing you think of is how cool is that, being asked to do that? So it’s lovely.”
‘That’s still a full driver for me’
This drive by Paul Lawrie on 18 set up a closing eagle.
He opens #TheOpen in 74.pic.twitter.com/MrqitMWOYj
— Golf Central (@GolfCentral) July 14, 2022
In one respect Paul’s drive at 18 was indicative of what many had feared at the Old Course.
Playing partners Webb Simpson and Min Woo Lee were “in between 3-woods and 3-irons” and also hit the green comfortably.
“That’s still full driver for me, but it shows you nowadays,” he said. “The game, it’s crazy how it’s going.
“Even with a flat out driver, it needs a bounce to get up there, which it did. I hit a lovely shot. It was about 5 feet and knocked it in.”
Paul expected to see some tricky pins – he singled out the 4th, 8th and 11th as spots he hadn’t seen before.
“I thought two-over was harsh today,” he said. “I thought I played a little better than that, I didn’t do much wrong.
“But overall I’ll need to be under par tomorrow to have any chance. But we’ll see what happens.”
A wee drinky-poo
Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Paul Lawrie have accepted invitations to become Honorary Members of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews 🏆⛳️
More here 👉 https://t.co/H9VAxdfAiQ pic.twitter.com/dGSbVIg9xg
— The R&A (@RandA) July 13, 2022
If he chose, he could have gone into members’ area of the clubhouse as a new honorary member of the R&A.
“I can pop in for a wee drinky-poo later on,” he said. “That will be quite nice.
“A few weeks ago, they asked would I accept it. Well, absolutely. They’ve supported my foundation, they’ve supported the Scottish Challenge that we’ve got on, the Tartan Pro Tour.
“They’ve been amazing for us with the amount of money they’ve given us and funding through the years. So a huge honour for me.
“I think I have freedom of the links already. I can get a tee time any time. Now that I’m an honorary member, I may just add that on the pail as well.”
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