Dubai: The early leader of the Dubai World Championship, Paul Lawrie, has revealed the fear of getting abuse from his two teenage sons is what leaves him in search of further titles.
The 42-year-old former Open Championship winner from Aberdeen, Scotland, hadn't won an event on the European Tour for nine years until victory in March at the Andalusia Open finally took his wins tally to six.
Now, with his two sons Craig, 16, and Michael, 12, playing off scratch and five handicaps respectively, he's under renewed pressure from his two biggest critics not to leave it so long until his next victory.
First-day score
A first-day score of seven under par 65 on his Dubai World Championship debut Thursday may keep them off his back for now.
Lawrie said: "It was nine years since I won. You really don't want it to be that long again. You want to win tournaments, you want to compete. I want to be top 50 in the World Rankings.
"My boys are 16 and 12 now and I don't want them seeing Dad as a poor player. You want to be a good player for them. They were giving me a bit of a ribbing in that nine years [that] I hadn't won. That drives me on, the fact that I want to be a decent player for them.
'Nice to give it back'
"When I won in Malaga, it was sort of nice to give it [the abuse] back a little bit."
With both of his sons having already beaten him at scratch, Lawrie added: "They are both miles ahead of where I was when I was that age - both of them work hard on their game, so it would be pretty cool if one of them came on Tour, or both."
