Chris Wood and Matt Fitzpatrick might have taken the easy route but both know every point counts if they want to get to Hazeltine and the Aberdeen Asset Management Paul Lawrie Matchplay is the way to get there.
The No 1 and No 3 seeds in the field for the second event fronted by the former Open champion – himself a hero the last time the Ryder Cup was staged in the US – both have designs on places in Darren Clarke’s European team but while they are in position they’ve both been waylayed in recent weeks.
With Wood it was injury that cost the BMW PGA champion the lucrative earning chances at the Scottish Open and Open Championship, where he had to withdraw after just one round with back trouble.
For Fitzpatrick it’s a loss of form in recent weeks that has seen the 21-year-old start to doubt what should have been a certain place in Clarke’s team.
Both see the Lawrie Matchplay – where anyone can be on their way home after less than a full 18 holes, given Lawrie’s insistence of straight knockout matchplay – as a route to Minnesota, which means that they rejected the opportunity to rest after last week’s gruelling battle against the weather at the PGA at Baltusrol.
For Wood, he’d better do well enough to book his place as fiancée Bethany isn’t likely to take his needing to play any more events too well.
“We’re getting married in two weeks, so I’ve sort of warned her, it could be on stand-by,” said Wood, who has already postponed their honeymoon until after the end of the Race to Dubai.
“She may be asking for a divorce already,” he joked. “If I have to, I will play Denmark (next week) and the wedding is the Saturday of the Czech Masters, so if I have to, I’ll play there too. But obviously I’d like to tie it all up this week.”
He could do that by winning, but just getting past Australian Brett Rumford in his opening match could be tricky. However Wood loves the format.
“It’s partly a warm-up for the Ryder Cup but I played last year at Murcar and I really enjoyed it,” he said.
“But I also think that if somebody like Paul is willing to put in the effort and time for an event like this, we as players should support him.
“He’s had a great career, Open Champion, Ryder Cup player. He deserves the support.
“You could easily say `well, it’s the week after the U.S. PGA, why would you want to play?’ but obviously with what I’ve got coming up in the next couple of weeks, I wanted to play. It’s come at a really good time for me.
Fitzpatrick has had an outstanding 12 months – two wins, four more top three finishes, a top 10 at the Masters – but still feels he hasn’t had as good a season as it could have been.
“When you put it like that, it does sounds pretty good,” he said. “But I think a lot of the time, and I’m sure all golfers are the same, you get stuck in the present; and you don’t think about what you’ve done before and what you’re working towards in the future.
“But I don’t think I’ve had a great season, I’ve been struggling a bit since the Masters. I’ve been getting a lot of advice off a lot of people lately and I just think the thing that comes out more and more is you’ve just got to enjoy golf.
“I enjoyed last week. I just hope that I can get on a bit of run now and make the final push for the Ryder Cup.”
Fitzpatrick could hardly have a better shop window to impress Clarke and his host, vice-captain Lawrie as he plays another of the skipper’s deputies, Thomas Bjorn, in today’s opening round.
After a successful launch last year at Murcar, Lawrie has moved the event to Archerfield in East Lothian, a venue that has earned spurs hosting the Scottish Ladies Open and the Scottish Seniors in recent seasons.
Long-time Lawrie sponsor Aberdeen Asset Management have also come in to back the second year of the event.
