Paul Lawrie wins the Open De Andalucía after nine years – Golf update
Scotsman Paul Lawrie, in a remarkable run on the back nine, recorded his long awaited victory in the Open De Andalucía at the beautiful Parador de Malaga Golf club in Spain. Lawrie, who had started off badly at the first nine of the final round, capitalised
on his competitors consecutive blunders to lift his first title after he last won a European Tour in 2002.
The conditions on the course were not easy, as the cool Mediterranean winds off the coast kept hitting the course at no less than 15 kmph, making it difficult to maintain precision and accuracy. Lawrie completed his level-par final round, taking over Sweden’s
Johan Edfors and extraordinary Chilean, Felipe Aguilar.
"It's been a long time - 2002 seems a h**l of a time ago," he said. "I've had a few second places in there, but all of a sudden we're there again.”
Lawrie who had equaled the course record the previous day with a stunning 60, faltered at the start on Sunday with an over par of 75 and slid down to the 11th spot. He bogeyed his first five holes, and with England’s Mark Foster, opening with
birdies and quickly gaining a lead of two, Lawrie’s chances of winning had considerably diminished. Foster, also win-less for eight long years, stumbled with multiple bogeys on the fifth to lose his grasp. This also gave young Aguilar and Edfors the required
impetus, pulling them into a chase to the top slot. The Chilean scored his third birdie of the day at the 14th to share the lead but failed to keep up with the pace and finally settled for a third place finish.
"I started hitting beautiful shots on the back nine. I birdied ten, 11 and 12, and then did a great up and down on 14 for birdie just at the right moment." said Lawrie, "I've always been a good putter, but these last years I couldn't get it into the hole.
This week they went in."
The flurry of birdies on the back nine, gave the 1999 British Open Champion his sixth win on the European Tour. Lawrie finished with a level par, 12 under for 268.
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