LAWRIE IN A BATTLE TO BE FIT FOR OPEN
Former champion is uncertain whether he will make it to Carnoustie as he struggles to recover from a foot injury
Paullawrie’s 20-year unbroken run of playing in the Open Championship is under threat.
The Aberdonian is facing a race to be fit for next month’s event at Carnoustie due to a persistent foot problem.
The 49-year-old has scrapped plans to play in next week’s Scottish Challenge in A vie more after finding himself fighting through the pain barrier to complete four circuits of the flat Devenick Course at the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre in the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Par 3 Championship.
Lawrie admitted he has no idea when he will play next and, while obviously keen to tee up in the 147th Open Championship at Carnoustie, where he claimed the Claret Jug in 1999 by winning a play-off, that is far from certain.
“I hit balls this morning and my foot was really struggling,” reported the tournament host, who also has a niggling back problem, after a second successive 59 for a 10-over-par total in an event won by Englishman David Dixon. “There’s no way I can play next week. I played here with next week in mind, but there’s no way I can compete and I don’t want to take a place away from someone who may have a chance of kicking on. It’s disappointing.”
Lawrie first played in the Open Championship in 1992 and has since only missed the game’s oldest major once – in 1997. Asked if he would be fit for the Scottish Open and the Open, Lawrie said: “I’ve honestly got no idea. I’ve been pulling out week-by-week and hoping it would get better but that doesn’t seem to be happening.
“I have entered the Irish Open, the Scottish Open and the Open but I’m not sure. Right now getting fit for The Open would be the goal but we’ll have to see how it goes.
Lawrie added that he couldn’t adjust his swing to help the pain. He said: “Some days I feel fine but there’s no way of knowing when it’s coming. If I knew I could dip or gain some height, but it’s an unexpected thing.”
Lawriew as first troubled by foot pain in the build-up to the 2012 Ryder Cup at Medinah and has been bothered by it on and off ever since.
He saw a foot specialist in Germany last year but that hasn’t made the slightest bit of difference.
Lawrie added: “When I played this year in Madrid and Morocco, my foot collapsed when I was playing and there’s no way I can do that. These guys are too good when you are fit so there’s no way I can do that when I’m not fit and I’m certainly not at the minute.”