THEY treat the veteran golfers well in the US. Through a combination of gushing reverence, dewy-eyed nostalgia and great wads of dollars, the over-50s circuit on the other side of the pond is a highly lucrative haven for the game’s elder statesmen.
This doesn’t mean it is some kind of genteel sinecure that is as cosy as pair of baffies warmed at the wood burner. Far from it. The competition among the golden oldies is fearsome and Paul Lawrie is well aware of that. And if he needed reminding about the abundant rigours of the senior scene, then Colin Montgomerie is on hand to offer some pearls of wisdom.
“He'll find it bloody tough,” said Monty, who has thrived since hitting 50.
Lawrie, meanwhile, is a young 'un among the auld yins. Having reached his half century on new year’s day, Lawrie will be a rookie on the senior tours on both sides of the Atlantic in 2019. Getting to dip his bread in the gravy train of the US circuit is not easy, though. He may be a former Open champion but it seems Major glory is no guarantee of regular senior service. What were we saying about treating the veterans well?
“There’s been some debate on social media as to whether they should be looking after me a bit more on the Champions Tour,” said Lawrie. “They have changed the rules I think. I was told I had a full year’s exemption but I don’t know. You need to get five points to be fully exempt and I have three because I have only won once. My Open win counts for just one PGA Tour win as far as they see it over there. I’m in all the senior Majors for two years, and some I’m in forever, but at the minute I have an invitation for the Insperity Invitational [in May] and a verbal OK for the Rapiscan Classic [next month]. And that’s it as far as the Champions Tour is concerned.”
Of course, there is one thing that could change all that.
“It’s my job to go out there and win early,” added Lawrie, who will have a full exemption for the European senior circuit and is still looking to play a number of main tour events too. “If I get a chance to play early then I have to take it and try to win. It’s up to me now. In a way that’s better. You don’t want to be getting hand outs left, right and centre. You want to earn it. So my plan is to go out there and win. I know that will be difficult as I’ve not played much golf but that is the plan.”
A long-standing foot injury, which almost brought Lawrie to the brink of early retirement, has been eased by significant surgery and the Aberdonian will test the competitive water over the next couple of weeks when he competes in regular European Tour events in the pleasant climes of Oman and Qatar.
“I’ve not played on the main tour for eight months so I know full well that Oman and Qatar are probably above me at the moment,” he conceded. “I’m not going there knowing that I’m going to miss cuts, though. That’s not in me. I’m a competitor, I want to go there and do as well as I can. I’m not sitting here thinking that I can win though. That’s not what these events are for. It’s about getting some competitiveness back and getting out there again and seeing where I am. It gives me a few weeks before the seniors to see how I am.
“Last year, I had thoughts that I was done all the time. I played my own Par-3 event in June and every shot I hit I fatted as my foot was collapsing. I was thinking then ‘well, this might be me done’. But I’ve always said that I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved in my career and if it was over then it was over. I didn’t have an issue with that. I have things I can do; the foundation, the agency I’ve set up, there’s loads of stuff. I don’t have to play golf but I think I’m OK to crack on now. Monty is right. I understand the level is good over there on the Champions Tour but I’d still back myself to win a few events anywhere I play as a senior.”
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