Paul Lawrie wins the Open de Andalucia after edging out Mark Foster and Johan Edfors
It was a great day indeed in the history of Scottish golf as Paul Lawrie won the Open de Andalucia and Martin Laird stole the Arnold Palmer Invitational from Steve Marino in two different golf tours within seven hours of each other. This marks the
first time two Scotsmen have won two different golfing tournaments on the US PGA and European Tours on the self same day.
Lawrie is most well known for his victory at the Open Championship in 1999, which made him the most recent Scot to win a major. His victory there was nothing short of amazing. He marched into the final round ten strokes behind the leader Van de Velde
making it the biggest comeback ever in the final round of a major championship or any tournament on the PGA Tour.
Before yesterday, though, he had been winless since 2002 when he won the Wales Open. His victory at the Open de Andalucia was far from assured at the start of the final round despite leading by one stroke going into the last day. He had a bogey free
third round where he shot a 65; but he got lucky on the 13th hole where he was saved from a bogey when a wild shot rebounded off the back of a spectator to land on the green.
Lawrie was closely followed by Kenny Ferrie and Mark Foster. Kerrie had a record equaling score of 60 in the third round which put him contention for the win but he could not recreate his sparkling form in the final round. His four bogeys and two doubles
meant he finished way back in 11th place.
Paul’s final round began with back to back bogeys in the opening two holes. In contrast Foster had back to back birdies to take him to a three stroke lead. Foster could not maintain his momentum and made three consecutive birdies on the 4th,
5th and 7th holes. Lawrie turned his game around after making another bogey on the 5th. He started the final nine holes with four birdies in five holes.
The only one who seriously threatened Lawrie going into the final holes was Sweden’s Johan Edfors. Starting from the 7th he made five birdies in eight holes to take the lead at the 14th hole. But Lawrie
birdied the 14th and Edfors bogeyed the 15th to hand the Scot a two stroke lead that he maintained till the final round. And despite making a bogey on the closing hole Lawrie comfortably took the victory, the
6th win of his career.
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