As a Scot contesting a European Tour event on home soil Chris Doak could consider himself a popular winner yesterday but the Glaswegian was immediately preparing himself to become the villain of the piece by knocking out the host of the Saltire Energy Paul Lawrie Matchplay.
So much so that the Glaswegian moved into full pantomime baddie mode when describing the key moment in his fine comeback from four holes down after six against English opponent Anthony Wall at Murcar.
“When I was four down, a wee bit of fight came in. I found something and the wee chip-in helped.
It got me going, then I think the chip-in at 12 was a dagger in the heart and I just squeezed it in,” he said, cruelly accompanying those words with a lunging motion, then twist of the wrist.
There was a wicked grin too as he recounted those telling blows the first of which was required to stem the tide at the seventh and the second that he considered a contender for “shot of the year” after he holed out from an awkward spot 30 yards from the flag.
The same mock malice was employed when he was told his next task is to end the competitive involvement of the man who created this event.
“Is it? Oh, ya beauty! He has been great this week so all credit to him and to Mike (Loggie) at Saltire.
“There might be a smirk at the end (if he wins). We will see what happens... matchplay is a funny game,” said Doak.
Having led only when Wall missed a six footer on the 18th which would have taken the match down extra holes, he may have to play substantially better than he did in the first round in order to do so.
“I didn’t give Romain (Wattel) much leeway, he made a few mistakes on the front nine to give me a few holes. I was hitting it solid so there was little chance of coming back from that,” was Lawrie’s explanation of his 5&4 win over the Frenchman.
“I got to bed early last night and had a good night’s sleep. I got my head around that I am not a host anymore, I am a player. The last couple of days have been busy but this morning it was nice to be a player again.
“There were a few people walking round so you were under a little bit of pressure to perform to a certain level for them.
“You know they are there to watch you. I normally do all right in that situation so it was nice to go out there and play some nice golf and give them the win.”
He also expressed satisfaction with the performance of the other Aberdonian in the field.
“The crowd will be looking forward to Richie (Ramsay) winning a few matches. He has been doing great and he won in Morocco. We are looking for him to have a good week and so far so good,” Lawrie said of what was another fine comeback performance.
Ramsay had been three down after seven holes but recovered from that scratchy start and a birdie at the 17th edged him ahead for the first time before he rattled in a 20 footer at the last to wrap up his win over Indian Shiv Kapur.
“The most pleasing thing is playing well under pressure,” he said afterwards.
“There's no better feeling. That's what you practice for. When I was younger, I would probably feel the pressure and not play as well, but now, with a bit of experience, you realize this is what you're playing for. This is fun.”
David Drysdale, courtesy of holing a 25 foot birdie putt from off the green at the first extra hole, was yet another Scot who fought back to win having been three down to Belgian Thomas Pieters after six holes, while second seed and top ranked Scot Marc Warren squeezed out Englishman Richard Bland in a high class encounter in which the better ball was 11-under-par.
Scott Jamieson was the lone Scot to make an early exit while there was some disappointment for the organisers when former Open champion John Daly succumbed to Spain’s Jorge Campillo on the final green.
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