Paul Lawrie counting on home advantage

One of the last times Paul Lawrie stayed in his own bed during a golf tournament, he won the Open Championship. It goes without saying he’d love a repeat of that outcome when Royal Aberdeen stages the Scottish Open next month.

The tournament will be the first European Tour event ever to take place in the Granite City, which means proud Aberdonian, Paul Lawrie, will have the luxury of being able to go home, and not to a hotel, at the end of each day.

As such, he is hoping those home comforts will spur him on to victory in front of what is sure to be a large, partisan crowd.

“It’s an advantage to live about 20 minutes from a venue,” admitted Lawrie. “I’ve never stayed that close before. The Open at Carnoustie was the closest and that was an hour away, so I’m hoping that’s a good omen.”

“You want to play well in front of your own people.” – Paul Lawrie

A visitor to Royal Aberdeen around ‘four or fives times a year’, Paul Lawrie will be expected to perform well. However, he insists he doesn’t feel under extra pressure to live up to his ‘local favourite’ billing

“There is no more pressure for me to perform because I put myself under pressure every week,” he said. “The fact it is in Aberdeen will probably mean there is more support for me than I’ve ever had in a tournament, but that’s a positive.

“You want to play well in front of your own people, there’s no question about that, but I don’t see that as anything other than a good thing. I feed off of having that support.”

Victory in the Scottish Open would see Lawrie complete a unique quadruple of wins in Scotland. After claiming the Open in 1999, he then bagged the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in 2001 followed by the Johnnie Walker Championship in 2012.

“I would like to have the Scottish Open on my CV.” – Paul Lawrie

As such, Paul Lawrie admits that winning the Scottish Open is his single biggest remaining ambition in golf.

“I’ve made no secret of the fact that, before I stop, I would like to have the Scottish Open on my CV,” said Lawrie. “It would be right up there with the best things I’ve achieved. It would be second to winning the Open.

“But obviously it’s a world-class field and you are going to have to play some great golf to have a chance.”

Watch Paul Lawrie at the Scottish Open

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Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor