THE ageing process doesn’t come itself. A twinge here, a hirple there, a nagging niggle everywhere? At 49, Paul Lawrie is hardly ready for the nibbie and meals-on-wheels just yet and, in this game for all the ages, the 50th birthday that is looming on the first morning of 2019 means the canny Aberdonian can become a young 'un again among the rookies on the Senior Tour.
Over a quarter-of-a-century on the European Tour has been burnished by bountiful successes but the passing of time brings a sense of reality. Next year will be a new start for Lawrie but the 1999 Open champion has accepted that it is time to make a slow retreat from the frontlines of the regular tour.
Back in 2012, Lawrie embarked on a rousing renaissance which swept him all the way back into the Ryder Cup fray after a 13 year absence. He played a key role in the memorable Miracle of Medinah but in the years that have followed, the aches and pains of a sair fit have hindered his progress in an increasingly crash, bang, wallop golfing environment of power and distance.
"Unfortunately, I see myself now in the twilight of my regular career,” he said. “I have the odd week where I feel as though I can compete but I've not been competitive for a wee while.
"That [realisation] has come pretty quickly as even 18 months ago I felt I could win. But now I'm at the stage where making the cut is a half decent week and I never felt that would be the case.
"You have to face up sometimes to the reality of it. Like everyone does, you wake up one day and get out of bed feeling a bit stiff so competing with these young boys is tough.
"Man, watching Rory McIlroy hit the ball last Sunday? These bunkers he's taking it over, he's hitting it 325 yards in the air without any bother. My foot is not any different than it was. I went to see a foot specialist in Germany towards the end of last year but it's not made much difference. I was supposed to go back at the beginning of this month but I've not done that as I didn't think there was enough improvement.
"I think I'm resigned now to it being how it is and if it means I can only hit 50 balls a day compared to what I used to, I am OK with that. The great thing about the Senior Tour is that they play three rounds in most events with no cut so that will be helpful."
Lawrie, whose wider sense of golfing duty is well-documented with his flourishing Foundation benefitting the game across a variety of fronts, has played just four European Tour events this season. He missed two cuts and finished in a tie for 61st in the other two. For a sturdy competitor like Lawrie, muddling on among the rank-and-file hardly gets the juices flowing. This summer’s Open, of course, is back at Carnoustie, the scene of his epic Claret Jug conquest in 1999, and while that will stir the senses, the expectations will remain modest.
"Realistically, an event like The Open is a level that is probably a bit beyond me, even though I feel I can still contend the odd week on certain courses and that includes events on links courses,” he conceded. “My expectations are definitely less than they were. My mentality is never to go to a tournament just hoping to make the cut but that's the reality of where I am at.”
Lawrie is ready to begin a new chapter in a career that still stands as one of Scottish sport’s great, inspiring success stories and one polished by the virtues of drive, dedication and discipline that many others lack. "I would like to think I couldn't have been a better player,” reflected Lawrie, who was a five-handicapper when he turned pro at 17 and was a young loon working in the pro shop at Banchory. “I have given it everything. Had I been someone who'd left a bit out there and partied too much, I'd be sitting here feeling different. But I feel as though I have been the best I could have been. If you are that, then you are OK with it. I've had my go on the main Tour and no I'm looking forward to having a second go as a senior.”
As they say, life begins at 50 …
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