Player Blog: Paul Lawrie

Hosting a match play event for the second year running on the European Tour, Paul Lawrie tells us all about what that means, discusses this week’s venue, talks all things Ryder Cup and Aberdeen Football Club, and updates us on how his golfing centre is progressing... 

It’s still a bit surreal to have my name on a European Tour event. It’s something that I’m very proud of and it feels great that myself, my management company 4Sports & Entertainment, and the sponsors have helped to create this fantastic event, at a great venue. Match play is such a different format. We play so many stroke play events that we thought we’d do something different, and knockout match play is something that I’ve always enjoyed. And the feedback from the players has been brilliant. You stand on the first tee and you know that one of you will be going home and one of you will progress. Although that’s a bit brutal, I think it goes down well and the players love having to adopt that make or break mindset from day one.

Archerfield is going to be a top venue this year. The feedback from the players on the place and how it shapes up has been great so far. To have the chipping green, putting green, car park, tented village, range and everything else within easy reach of each other is ideal. It’s nice when everything is compact like that, and the course itself is in great condition.

Playing a match play event in Ryder Cup year feels a bit more special.We have guys here like Fitzy (Matt Fitzpatrick) and Woody (Chris Wood) who are right in the mix for a place on Darren’s European team, and there are vital Ryder Cup points on offer this week. There’s still a lot that can happen in the run-up to that final team being sorted though, so a win from some of the other guys in the field this week could put them right in contention as well, so there’s a lot on offer here in regards to The Ryder Cup. It’s also a dress rehearsal for the guys who have a great chance of making our team for Hazeltine. A few of them won’t have played match play for a while so this week gives them a chance to get those match play feelings going again.

Speaking of the Ryder Cup, I’m really enjoying being a vice captain. It’s a new role for me as I’ve never done it before, but I’ve been speaking to Padraig (Harrington) and Thomas (Børn) about it all. Darren himself was obviously a Ryder Cup vice vaptain as well, so I’ll be speaking to the captain at length. I’m really looking forward to it all and it’s going to be a great, exciting week. It’s always difficult to win away, but our team is shaping up really well so I’m feeling positive.

I’ve also been pretty busy with my golf centres this year. We’ve got two now, there’s the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre in Ardoe and there’s one out at Inchmarlo Resort, so things are going well. The one in Aberdeen flooded badly over the new year so we had to spend a lot of money to get that repaired, but it’s a beautiful facility and it gives people a lot of enjoyment. We’ve got a long-term plan for the centres and we have 11 or 12 players attached who are professionals and receive funding from my foundation and the golf centre as a combined deal. There’s plenty of talent coming through and we also have plenty of experience on site to help the younger ones.

Away from golf, it’s a big year for my beloved Aberdeen FC.

We’re going to win the league… No seriously we have a big game tomorrow night against Maribor in the UEFA Europa League, so fingers crossed for that one. Overall, we’re progressing well under our manager Derek McInnes and things are looking positive for the club. If we can be in contention to be champions with a few games to go then it would be exciting for everyone. I try to go to as many games as I can, but it’s hard with being away playing golf so often. Although recently as my golf hasn’t been great, I’ve been able to get to the games on a Saturday, which is something I’d like to put a stop to! I’d say I get to eight or nine matches a year normally, and we have some season tickets for the family as well.

I feel like I’ve got plenty left to achieve in golf.

I’ve been struggling a bit physically ever since Medinah really. I’ve struggled with niggly injuries since then, which has been frustrating and limited me to 15 or 16 events a season. It’s not enough and you need to be playing more than that. I’m not fit enough physically to do the practice that’s needed to get back into the top 50 in the world, but I feel I can still be competitive when fit, and I’ve no intention of stopping or slowing down. If my body will let me, I’m very keen to keep playing and to be competitive at 50 on the European Tour and not just the Senior Tour. That’s my goal.

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