HOLING BACK THE YEARS
LAWRIE RECALLS GREATEST WIN Paul returns to Carnoustie with the putter that changed his life forever and admits he wouldn’t mind having it back in his bag
AS Open chiefs urged fans to plan ahead for Carnoustie next year, Paul Lawrie looked back in a nostalgic reunion with the clubs he used to clinch his greatest success.
The Scot hadn’t seen the old prototype Odyssey putter he’d used to roll home the winning putt in 1999 since he had held it aloft in celebration on the 18th green at Carnoustie.
Donated to the British Golf Museum at St Andrews before the enormity of his achievement had even had a chance to sink in, that precious putter hasn’t been in his grasp in the 18 years since.
Until this week, that is, when he was handed the trusty old stick and asked to recreate his moment of glory – all to celebrate tickets going on sale today ahead of the next Open on this famously fearsome Angus Links next July.
At the same time he was allowed to grasp his scorecard from that final round too.
Again, the last time he’d held that was in the recorders hut behind the green when he signed his name under a superb closing 67 that clawed him from 10 shots back into a share of the lead with Justin Leonard and, of course, poor Jean van de Velde.
The hapless Frenchman’s nightmare triple bogey on the last that let Lawrie into that play-off will forever be bound to the tale of Lawrie’s triumph.
Thankfully Lawrie had one more companion along for the ride to remind us all of the quality and steely nerve that saw him win that Claret Jug, rather than van de Velde lose it.
The trusty old Wilson four iron he wielded in the play-off to laser a 221-yard approach to just four feet from the pin to close out victory at the fourth extra hole.
A shot so sublime Jack Nicklaus sought him out in the locker room at the USPGA three weeks later to congratulate him on one of the finest shots he’d ever seen played under pressure.
Injury prevented Lawrie from having another go when he returned to the spot this time.
But just to be back, not only in the place where his name was written in history but once again holding the tools with which he carved it? The thrill was clearly etched in the 48-year-old’s grin.
Lawrie said. “It was great to be back at the same spot, 221 to the pin. The things you remember.
“All that was going through my mind back then was that the left edge of the Rolex clock (on the Carnoustie hotel behind the 18th green) was my line. Then just slow away.
“I used that pre-shot routine pretty much since Adam (Hunter) started coaching me all those years ago. This slow away movement and then just let everything else happen.
“Obviously, the adrenalin was flowing through me, so I knew it was going to go a bit further when I struck it. Back then I was usually hitting it 205 with a four iron, so 221 was a big hit.
“I think it landed a bit short and ran up, which in links golf is what you’re trying to do anyway. I felt really calm and in control. Incredibly, I didn’t feel nervous.
“I had hit the ball lovely all day. My rhythm was nice and I was just trying to think of that ‘slow away’ thing. All golfers are the same – when you work on something like that and it works early on it tends to stay there all day. I was just in a nice flow and a nice rhythm.
“I’ve got the four iron with me today but usually it sits in the golf room of my house. The bag, the irons and the wedges all sit there so I see them every day.
“The woods were sold for charity and they are now up in the clubhouse at Inch because a member there bought them. But the rest have sat at home since I stopped using that set at the end of that year.”
It’s a Scottish sporting heirloom, just like Sandy Lyle’s old Mizuno seven iron that he wielded to play arguably the most iconic bunker shot in US Masters history to set up 1988 victory.
Lawrie said: “I think his seven iron beats my four iron any day. But I’m not really sentimental about clubs.
“I’m not big on things like that. If I break a club I can replace it, it doesn’t really bother me.
“A lot gets made of people changing contracts and changing clubs. I always feel that if I have a week or a couple of days with something new then I can get used to it pretty quickly.
“You will very seldom get a player blaming the equipment. If you have a bit of time you get used to anything.
“All the equipment is good now so I really don’t think it makes much difference.”
This time, however, it did feel special to be holding the clubs that he had used to change his life forever.
Lawrie said: “The first couple of times I came back here it was definitely strange and there were goosebumps.
“But we play here every year with the Dunhill Links so I got used to coming back. But it will always be an unbelievably special place for me, there’s no question of that.
“I hadn’t actually been down there at the spot on 18 with the four iron and the putter since then. The putter felt very light. Maybe that’s what’s wrong now, my putter is too heavy.
“Maybe I should have smuggled it back in the bag but I don’t think the Golf Museum would be too pleased!”
● Tickets for The 147th Open at Carnoustie go on general sale at early-season prices from 9am. Visit TheOpen.com for details.