‘You Don’t Feel As Though You Belong’ - Paul Lawrie On Rejecting Major Spots, Feeling Uncompetitive And Links Golf’s Big Problem

Across a 40-year professional career, Paul Lawrie has won a lot. 19 times to be exact.

There have been so many different kinds of victories, too, from the Scottish Assistants' Championship right up to The Open Championship at Carnoustie and even a solo Sunshine Tour success.

But for the man who made winning such a habit between 1996 to 2012 in particular, there was remarkably a subsequent period in his life where he felt lifting titles was highly unlikely to near impossible.

The stretch between his final European Tour win in 2012 and his first seniors victory in 2019 was a tough one - notwithstanding his Dimension Data Pro-Am triumph on the Sunshine Tour as a 48-year-old.

And it occurred only a few years after racking up a second career appearance for Team Europe at the 2012 Ryder Cup, when the Scot was a key member of the miracle-inducing side at Medinah aged 43.

Once he'd reached his mid-40s, Lawrie felt he was "gone" as far as a competitive animal on the main tour went and he quietly waited for senior golf to come around in order to rejuvenate his chances of victory.

As expected, the former World No.26 took to the European Senior Tour quite smoothly and has, to date, picked up three titles.

Explaining how he found the transition between the main tour and senior golf, Lawrie told Golf Monthly ahead of the Champions UK European Senior Masters: "Well, it's quite difficult, because when you get to sort of your late forties, most of the guys are uncompetitive on the main tour.

"I played the Ryder Cup and I was nearly 44 in Medinah, but then two or three years after that I was kind of gone, really, as far as the high end of the game goes. And that's why I kind of stopped playing The Open."

Remarkably, the 1999 Open champion has made a habit of skipping his opportunity to play in the game's oldest Major over recent years.

Since 2017, Lawrie has only been listed in the field twice - at Royal Portrush in 2019 and for The 150th Open at St Andrews three years later.

And his reason for abstaining is truly heartbreaking.

Lawrie said: "I haven't played The Open much over the last few years because you feel a wee bit in the way and you don't feel as though you belong.

"These guys all hit it quite a long way, the competitive side of you goes away a wee bit, you're not playing a lot of golf.

"If you're not playing a lot of golf, it's hard to be competitive amongst people who are playing week in, week out and hitting it 40 yards past you. So it's quite tough.

"I personally felt uncompetitive when I played the 150th Open at the Old Course. I felt as though I played pretty well. I didn't putt brilliantly and I think I missed the cut by three.

"And if you play alright and putt alright and you miss the cut by three, I'm not so sure you're competitive at that level. That's the way I saw it."

Thankfully, the hero to many admitted he has changed his perspective somewhat this year and has vowed to return at St Andrews in 2027 where Lawrie says he will give it his best shot, no matter what.

He continued: "I'm going to play The Opens that I've got left, I've decided. I haven't got many, I've got three left until I'm 60, and I'm going to play all of those no matter how I play or how I feel because I've changed my mind a wee bit.

"I kind of thought for a while that I shouldn't really be there and I was too old, and I wasn't competitive, and I was taking up a space.

"But this last little while, I've kind of changed my thinking. You know, I've earned that space. It's my space and I'm allowed to play.

"A lot of people have got the opinion that you shouldn't be there over the age of 50, but until they tell me that I can't, I think I'm going to play the ones that I've got left and we'll see how we get on."

"If there's no wind, I don't think there are any links courses that can cope with the modern game"

Lawrie's career has spanned a fascinating time in pro golf where equipment has taken a major leap forward - as has the actual physiology of the players themselves.

Not only is it possible to hit the ball much farther than was previously possible, no matter your ability, the elite-level pros are built like true athletes in the modern era.

And, as such, particularly male pros are able to take down some of the world's most iconic layouts with raw power.

One such course which feels in danger of becoming too short to cope with the rigours of the modern men's game is arguably the most famous of them all - the Old Course at St Andrews.

Lawrie admits the advancement of golf-club technology, combined with the distance the ball travels, is putting St Andrews at risk for the men. He also argued the Old Course is not the only layout in peril.

Asked whether he feels St Andrews crowning jewel is at risk of becoming overpowered by the men's game, Lawrie said: "Well, it's not just the Old Course where that's the case.

"If there's no wind, I don't think there are any links courses that can kind of cope with modern golfers and modern equipment. It's not just the Old Course.

"Obviously the Old Course works because it's the Old Course, and every time you play there as a tour pro, it's a great Open.

"The attendance is always the best. It's not a great viewing course, in my opinion, if you're spectator because you're all down these sides and not in the middle, but people still go because it's St Andrews and it's the Old Course and that's a special, special place to play and watch golf because of the history that's happened there.

"But it's not just the Old Course that's struggling to keep up with the pace of what's going on, with how far the ball goes and how good the equipment is. That's a links golf and a golf problem in general."

But how to solve it? It's an issue many people have been attempting to tackle for several years now, with plans for a golf ball rollback still in the pipeline to some degree.

While Lawrie admitted the question certainly does need answering, he is happy to continue taking advantage of the current set-up - especially given his new-found length despite his advancing years.

The 57-year-old said: "Right now, I'm allowed to use the equipment that I use. I'm allowed to have 14 clubs in my bag. The more clubs is better because as you get older you struggle a bit.

"I like the fact that I hit it farther now than I did 30 years ago when I was younger and fitter, so I'm not going to complain about anything.

"But I get the point that people make about maybe looking at a little bit of equipment and how it's done.

"But, for now, I don't really concern myself with stuff I can't do anything about or change."