Lawrie’s monarch of the Glen

Home favourtie strolls to Gleneagles victory ahead of Ryder Cup return

Man in form: Paul Lawrie is full of confidence ahead of his Ryder Cup return after victory at Gleneagles

Scotland’s Paul Lawrie secured his second title of the 2012 season with victory in the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles.

Validating his return to the Ryder Cup after 13 years since his last appearance, Lawrie cruised to a four-stroke win over the PGA Centenary Course – the 2014 Ryder Cup venue – over Australian Brett Rumford.

He went into the final round leading Frenchman Romain Wattel by a single shot but showed all of his experience to gradually move away from the field, recording a 16-under-par total of 272.

It’s the eighth title of the 1999 Open champion’s career, adding to the Qatar Masters crown he collected in February.

With this success, Lawrie continues a startling return to form on Europe’s premier stage. His resurgence began with victory at the Open de Andalucía in 2011 and since then he has been a figure of consistency, moving into the top 30 in the world after slumping to 346th in 2005.

Winning over the PGA Centenary course caps a magnificent week for the Aberdonian, having earlier been confirmed as one of the automatic ten qualifiers for Jose Maria Olazabal’s Ryder Cup side for Medinah.

“I felt better this week, I felt calmer, things didn’t bother me as they had the last couple of months,” said Lawrie.

“It’s not easy. I want to be in that team so bad.

“It’s probably been one of the best ball-striking weeks in my career. I putter pretty poorly today but still shot four under which showed how nicely I struck the ball.

“The course was we and soft but I was hitting the ball long. And I am now playing the best golf of my career.”

With another triumph over a very competitive field, Lawrie will now turn to his first appearance against Team America since the ’99 defeat at Brookline brimming with self-belief.

“I’m going into this one as confident as I was last time. I can’t wait.

“It’s difficult to rank wins but this is obviously a huge one. I go into my second Ryder Cup playing nicely, hitting it lovely and looking forward to it,” he added.

Another late contender for Medinah, Nicolas Colsaerts, who defeated Lawrie at the semi-final stage of the Volvo World Matchplay, failed to match the Scotsman’s charge for the title while needing a top two finish at the weekend.

He now faces an agonising wait to learn if he is one of the two men named by Olazabal as his wildcard picks.

Other notable finishers were Scottish trio Colin Montgomerie, Richie Ramsay and Stephen Gallacher, who finished in a tie alongside Francesco Molinari.

Last year’s champion, Thomas Bjorn, was seven shots behind on nine-under-par to tie for tenth with Rafael Cabrera-Bello – another man with slim hopes of a pick from fellow countryman Olazabal – Paul Waring and Peter Whiteford.

Bryce Ritchie is the Editor of bunkered and, in addition to leading on content and strategy, oversees all aspects of the brand. The first full-time journalist employed by bunkered, he joined the company in 2001 and has been editor since 2009. A member of Balfron Golfing Society, he currently plays off nine and once got a lesson from Justin Thomas’ dad.

Editor of bunkered