Paul Lawrie underlined his Ryder Cup achievement but also his place among Scotland’s greatest golfers of all time by becoming the first Scot to win three European Tour events in his homeland.
The Aberdonian continued his remarkable renaissance of the last 10 months at the age of 43, 13 years on from his famous victory at the Open at Carnoustie, by winning the Johnnie Walker Championship on Sunday.
He barely looked troubled in the final round on the PGA Centenary Course, turning a narrow one-shot advantage into a four-shot margin of victory.
Lawrie had one fairly meaningless bogey in a final round four-under 68 for a 16-under total of 272 to take the £233,330 first prize, four ahead of Australia’s Brett Rumford, who was second here for the second time in three years.
In a rare occurrence there were five Scots finishing in the top 10 in front of record crowds for the Johnnie Walker at Gleneagles, just as the event is set to leave its customary August slot ahead of the Ryder Cup coming here in 2014.
Lawrie was himself surprised to learn that no Scot had previously won three European Tour events north of the border, as he added the Johnnie Walker to his Open win and the 2002 Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
”I didn’t know that, but it’s pretty good isn’t it?” he said. ”Seven top 10s and two wins this year, this is the best I’ve ever played.
”I had a good spell between 1999 and 2002 when I was in the top 10 of the Order of Merit three of those four years. Certainly ball-striking-wise my game has gone up the last couple of years but this is far and away the best I’ve played.”
Lawrie thought that his ball-striking, always a strength when he is at his best, may have peaked this week.
”It’s probably one of the best ball-striking weeks of my career I hit the ball so well,” he said. ”I putted poorly today and still shot four-under which goes to show it’s been a fantastic week.”
The presence of so many Scots towards the top of leaderboard certainly brought out the crowds probably more than the culmination of the Ryder Cup points chase, which has been a feature at Gleneagles for the 2008, 2010 and this year, but will switch when the Wales Open moves into this slot for 2014 and 2016.
Well over 17,000 turned out on Sunday, filling the new amphitheatre around the 18th green, and a total of 47,375 came during the week.
”People ask me why I do so well in Scotland and it’s because I’m so comfortable playing here and obviously I’m used to the conditions, even though the weather was pretty good this week and I might lose the ‘bad weather player’ tag at last,” continued Lawrie.
”But it’s also because of the support I get it’s been incredible. Being the highest ranked Scottish player obviously helps but the backing I’ve got, especially this last two days, has just been tremendous.”
Not that the pressure of expectation didn’t weigh a bit on him going into the final round.
”I felt it this morning , just a shot ahead of a quality field and a lot of people expecting me to go on and win,” he said.
”I actually missed five putts in the first five holes, two-putted for birdie on the second, but I’ve been in the game a long time and you learn to just keeping chugging away and the birdies will come.
”I holed a nice one at the 11th and that’s when it came around. It may have looked easy but that was a quality field out there.”
Photo by Chris Clark/PA Wire