Paul Lawrie

Paul Lawrie
OBE
Paul Lawrie ; OBE
Personal information
Full name	Paul Stewart Lawrie
Nickname	Chippy[1]
Born	1 January 1969; Aberdeen, Scotland
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight	200 lb (91 kg; 14 st)
Nationality	Scotland
Residence	Aberdeen, Scotland
Spouse	Marian Giles
Children	Craig, Michael
Career
Turned professional	1986
Current tour(s)	European Senior Tour
Former tour(s)	European Tour; PGA Tour
Professional wins	15
Highest ranking	26 (21 October 2012)[2]
Number of wins by tour
European Tour	8
Sunshine Tour	1
European Senior Tour	1
Other	5
Best results in major championships; (wins: 1)
Masters Tournament	T15: 2003
PGA Championship	T34: 1999
U.S. Open	T30: 2002
The Open Championship	Won: 1999

Paul Stewart Lawrie OBE (born 1 January 1969) is a Scottish professional golfer who is best known for winning The Open Championship in 1999. He was a vice-captain for the European Ryder Cup team in 2016.

Lawrie at the Scottish Hydro Challenge

Early career

Lawrie was born in Aberdeen. He turned professional in 1986 and became a member of the European Tour in 1992. He performed steadily without doing much to draw attention to himself, aside from a 6th-place finish in the 1993 Open Championship. In his first seven seasons his only top 50 finish on the Order of Merit came in 1996 when he was 21st. However he also finished in the top 100 in all but one of the other six seasons, and picked up a debut tour win at the 1996 Catalan Open.

1999 onwards

Lawrie's career was transformed in 1999. After winning the Qatar Masters, which is a European Tour event, early in the season, he went on to win the 1999 Open Championship at Carnoustie in July.[3] This was the Open where the Frenchman Jean van de Velde blew a three-shot lead on the final hole. Lawrie won a four-hole playoff against Van de Velde and American Justin Leonard. An unusual aspect of Lawrie's victory was that he was neither leader nor co-leader at any time during his regulation 72 holes, only moving into a share of the lead when the leaders came back to him after he had completed his final round. Also, Lawrie came back from the largest third-round deficit ever faced by a major championship winner; going into the final day, he trailed the leader, Van de Velde, by 10 shots. This is also the record for the biggest final-round comeback on the PGA Tour.[4]

After his major championship victory, Lawrie's game shifted to a higher level without quite moving him into the global elite group of golfers. He finished 9th on the European Tour Order of Merit in 1999; 6th in 2001, when he captured the lucrative Dunhill Links Championship; and 10th in 2002, when he won his fifth European Tour title at the Celtic Manor Resort Wales Open.

In March 2001, the Paul Lawrie Foundation was created. The Foundation aims to support and sustain an interest and enthusiasm for the game of golf amongst under 18s. Activities are delivered in a fun and relaxed setting with equipment provided if necessary. The Foundation has grown rapidly and now includes football and hockey.[3][5] In 2011, a 54-hole tournament, the Paul Lawrie Invitational was added to the Tartan Tour.

After winning the Open, Lawrie was a member of the PGA Tour for several seasons, while also continuing to compete on the European Tour. He enjoyed little success in the U.S. and when his five-year major championship exemption expired at the end of the 2004 season, he lost his PGA Tour card.

Lawrie comes out from the rough at the Scottish Hydro Challenge

Lawrie was the last European player to win a major until 2007, when that drought was ended by Pádraig Harrington of Ireland in The Open Championship. He was the last player from the United Kingdom to win a major until Graeme McDowell won the 2010 U.S. Open. Lawrie is still the last player from Scotland to win a major.

At the 2009 Open Championship at Turnberry, Lawrie scored what is believed to be only the eighth albatross (double eagle) in the competition's 150-year history by holing his second shot at the par 5 seventh hole in the final round.[6]

On 27 March 2011, Lawrie won the Open de Andalucía de Golf by one stroke over Johan Edfors. Lawrie finished the championship at −12 and in doing so ended a nine-year period without a tour win.[7]

In February 2012, Lawrie won the Commercialbank Qatar Masters for the second time in his career, having previously won in 1999. Lawrie became only the second player to have won the tournament more than once alongside Adam Scott. It was Lawrie's seventh win on the European Tour. The tournament was reduced to 54 holes after strong winds hampered the play during rounds one and two. He won by four strokes over Jason Day and Peter Hanson after a final round of 65.

Lawrie skipped the 2012 U.S. Open in an attempt to qualify for the 2012 Ryder Cup. He secured qualification with victory at the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles in August. He has stated that he would accept the captain's role for the 2014 Ryder Cup if offered.[8] Lawrie helped Team Europe retain the Ryder Cup at Medinah.[9] He finished the season in the top 10 of the Order of Merit for the first time in ten years.

Lawrie was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2000 and Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for voluntary service to golf.[10][11]

On 1 October 2020, Lawrie announced that he would be retiring from the European Tour following his 620th career event at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open due to back problems and would instead compete on the European Senior Tour moving forward.[12]

Non-playing work

Lawrie is passionate about junior golf and his Paul Lawrie Foundation has taught thousands of youngsters. In 2012 he bought Aspire Golf Centre in Aberdeen (now called the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre). Partly due to this, he was named by the Golf Club Managers' Association's Golf Club Management magazine as the 37th most powerful person in British golf. Lawrie is a fan of Aberdeen FC.[13]

Lawrie was a columnist for bunkered golf magazine between 1999 and 2004.

Lawrie has his own golf brand, called Cardinal Golf.[14]

Family

Lawrie's son Craig is also a professional golfer.[15]

Professional wins (15)

PGA Tour wins (1)

Legend
Major championships (1)
Other PGA Tour (0)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runners-up
1	18 Jul 1999	The Open Championship	+6 (73-74-76-67=290)	Playoff	Justin Leonard, Jean van de Velde

PGA Tour playoff record (1–0)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponents	Result
1	1999	The Open Championship	Justin Leonard, Jean van de Velde	Won four-hole aggregate playoff; Lawrie: E (5-4-3-3=15), Leonard: +3 (5-4-4-5=18), van de Velde: +3 (6-4-3-5=18)

European Tour wins (8)

Legend
Major championships (1)
Other European Tour (7)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runner(s)-up
1	3 Mar 1996	Catalan Open	−9 (65-70=135)*	1 stroke	Fernando Roca
2	20 Feb 1999	Qatar Masters	−20 (68-65-67-68=268)	7 strokes	Søren Kjeldsen, Phillip Price
3	18 Jul 1999	The Open Championship	+6 (73-74-76-67=290)	Playoff	Justin Leonard, Jean van de Velde
4	21 Oct 2001	Dunhill Links Championship	−18 (71-68-63-68=270)	1 stroke	Ernie Els
5	11 Aug 2002	Celtic Manor Resort Wales Open	−16 (67-65-70-70=272)	5 strokes	John Bickerton
6	27 Mar 2011	Open de Andalucía de Golf	−12 (66-67-65-70=268)	1 stroke	Johan Edfors
7	5 Feb 2012	Commercialbank Qatar Masters (2)	−15 (69-67-65=201)*	4 strokes	Jason Day, Peter Hanson
8	26 Aug 2012	Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles	−16 (68-69-67-68=272)	4 strokes	Brett Rumford

*Note: Tournament shortened to 36/54 holes due to weather.

European Tour playoff record (1–2)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponents	Result
1	1999	The Open Championship	Justin Leonard, Jean van de Velde	Won four-hole aggregate playoff; Lawrie: E (5-4-3-3=15), Leonard: +3 (5-4-4-5=18), van de Velde: +3 (6-4-3-5=18)
2	2001	Celtic Manor Resort Wales Open	Daren Lee, Paul McGinley	McGinley won with par on fifth extra hole Lawrie eliminated with par on second hole
3	2003	Dunhill Championship	Mark Foster, Anders Hansen, Trevor Immelman, Doug McGuigan, Bradford Vaughan	Foster won with eagle on second extra hole Hansen and McGuigan eliminated with birdie on first hole

Sunshine Tour wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runners-up
1	19 Feb 2017	Dimension Data Pro-Am	−15 (69-69-69-67=274)	1 stroke	Justin Hicks, Chris Lloyd, Chris Swanepoel

Sunshine Tour playoff record (0–1)

No.	Year	Tournament	Opponents	Result
1	2003	Dunhill Championship	Mark Foster, Anders Hansen, Trevor Immelman, Doug McGuigan, Bradford Vaughan	Foster won with eagle on second extra hole Hansen and McGuigan eliminated with birdie on first hole

Other wins (5)

1990 Scottish Assistants Championship
1992 UAP Under 25s Championship, Scottish PGA Championship
2002 Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Match Play Championship
2005 Scottish PGA Championship

European Senior Tour wins (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Winning score	Margin of victory	Runners-up
1	18 Aug 2019	Scottish Senior Open	−2 (68-72-71=211)	2 strokes	Peter Baker, Peter Fowler

Major championships

Wins (1)

Year	Championship	54 holes	Winning score	Margin	Runners-up
1999	The Open Championship	10 shot deficit	+6 (73-74-76-67=290)	Playoff¹	Justin Leonard, Jean van de Velde

¹Defeated Leonard and van de Velde in 4-hole playoff: Lawrie (5-4-3-3=15), Leonard (5-4-4-5=18), van de Velde (6-4-3-5=18).

Results timeline

Tournament	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1998	1999
Masters Tournament
U.S. Open
The Open Championship	T22	T6	T24	T58	CUT	CUT	1
PGA Championship							T34

Tournament	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Masters Tournament	CUT	CUT	CUT	T15	T37
U.S. Open		CUT	T30	CUT	CUT
The Open Championship	CUT	T42	T59	CUT	CUT	T52	CUT	CUT	CUT	T47
PGA Championship	T72	CUT	CUT

Tournament	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Masters Tournament			T24	T38
U.S. Open				T32
The Open Championship	CUT	T66	T34	T26	CUT	T40	T63	CUT
PGA Championship			T48	CUT

Tournament	2019
Masters Tournament
PGA Championship
U.S. Open
The Open Championship	CUT

Win

Top 10

Did not play

CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Summary

Tournament	Wins	Top-5	Top-10	Top-25	Events	Cuts made
Masters Tournament	0	0	0	1	7	4
PGA Championship	0	0	0	0	6	3
U.S. Open	0	0	0	0	5	2
The Open Championship	1	1	2	4	26	14
Totals	1	1	2	5	44	23

Most consecutive cuts made – 7 (2011 Open Championship – 2013 Open Championship)
Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (twice)

Results in The Players Championship

Tournament	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004
The Players Championship	T73	CUT	CUT	T56	CUT

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

Results not in chronological order before 2015.

Tournament	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2011	2012	2013	2017
Championship	T37		NT¹	T54			T60	T58
Match Play		QF	R32	R64	R64		R16	R64
Invitational	T21			T65			T50	T27	T60
Champions						T49	T36

¹Cancelled due to 9/11