Dubai break helped Lawrie
Scot says spending two weeks in Dubai and playing with his two sons helped improve his game
Abu Dhabi : Paul Lawrie showed some early form at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship with a superb bogey-free round of six under par 66. He attributed that form to time spent in Dubai during the break.
Lawrie, who turned 41 on New Year's day, is still remembered for his 1999 Open Championship success at Carnoustie when he overturned a 10-stroke deficit with a 67 in the final round to force a four-hole play-off with Frenchman Jean Van de Velde and the 1997 Open Champion Justin Leonard. Lawrie then birdied the final two holes to score a spectacular victory.
Lawrie, who played in Joburg Open last week and missed the cut, said: "I think it was important even missing the cut last week to get a tournament under my belt before coming here for three weeks. I think that helped me today. I hit an awful lot of good shots and a lot of good iron shots, drove the ball a bit poorly but when I was in trouble, I hit nice iron shots to recover.
Before the Joburg Open, Lawrie said his annual break at the Jebel Ali hotel in Dubai and golf with his two sons during that period did help.
"We were over in Dubai with the kids for nearly two weeks. We stayed at Jebel Ali. We go every year and they have a 9-hole course there, and so I played a lot of golf over Christmas and News Year's," he said.
"I didn't practise any length of time. Just warmed up and played nine holes every day," said the Scot.
"Craig and Michael both play, and they are both extremely keen. Craig is 14 and he plays off eight and Michael, he's 11 and he's down to 14-handicap, so they are both very handy. It's tough to beat them," said Lawrie who lost the label as the last European to win a Major following his 1999 Open Championship success when Padraig Harrington won it in 2007.
