Lawrie in awe of resurgent Woods

PAUL LAWRIE is not one who is easily impressed — but the former Open champion has been blown away by the re-emergence of Tiger Woods on the international stage. So much so that Lawrie has been glued to his TV the past two weekends, watching Woods finish tied-second at the Valspar Championship and joint-fifth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. The Aberdonian insists it was such compulsive viewing that, for an hour last Sunday, Woods’ Bay Hill duel with eventual winner Rory McIlroy was as good as golf gets. He said: ‘I’ve not watched much golf the last few years but I’ve been sitting on the couch watching Tiger and it’s great to have him back. He has been very impressive. ‘It’s remarkable how quickly he’s got himself back into things. It’s his swing speed and ball speed that’s amazing as it’s almost quicker than it was before. ‘Even I can’t understand how he is able to go from how he was, physically, to hitting it flat-out as quickly as he has. ‘I think he’s now managed to sort out the angle of attack in his swing. ‘It wasn’t so much the yips, it was more of a technique thing and now his chipping is brilliant again. ‘I thought for an hour on Sunday, that’s as good as it gets with Rory and Tiger up there and all credit to Rory for the way he played in the final round. ‘Next to Tiger, he is the person that moves the needle for me and if he keeps playing the way he did at Bay Hill and Tiger stays healthy, it’s going to be phenomenal next month at The Masters.’ Lawrie was yesterday named an ambassador for the inaugural European Golf Team Championships at Gleneagles, along with 2012 Scottish Open champion Carly Booth.