From the Masters to Murcar.

It's all part of Paul Lawrie's sporting life. "It's a massive event for us" said the former Open champion. And he doesn't just mean the forthcoming first Major of the season at Augusta National.

Such is the 43-year-old's commitment to and passion for supporting the game in his homeland, he will hurtle down Magnolia Drive whenever his Masters campaign draws to a close next weekend and head back to his native north east for the Scottish Boys' Championship, the under-18 showpiece his foundation is sponsoring and an event in which eldest son, Craig, is competing. Before all of that, however, Lawrie will have Georgia and Amen Corner on his mind and the Scot is relishing the prospect of immersing himself in the unique atmosphere and the occasion of this enchanting golfing theatre.

Like the azaleas and the dogwoods that seem to bloom on command each spring, Lawrie too has blossomed. Hard work and a new-found dedication, allied to considerable ability, was rewarded with victory in the Qatar Masters earlier in the year, a place in the leading 50 of the world rankings for the first time since 2003 and a chance to return to the Ryder Cup fray after a 13-year gap. Despite the early season momentum being halted by a bout of acute bronchitis recently, Lawrie is now back in rude health.

Absent from the Masters since 2004, the Aberdonian could not have picked a better time to throw himself back in to the cut-and-thrust of this particular arena. The opening Major of the year is always eagerly awaited, but there is a heightened sense of anticipation surrounding the 76th staging of this august Augusta affair.

A symbolic five-shot victory at Bay Hill last week for Tiger Woods, his first PGA Tour win in two and a half years, has galvanised the former world No 1 ahead of a mouth-watering clash of the titans with Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood and Phil Mickelson. With his ambition fortified by the sensation of being the favourite to slip on a fifth Green Jacket in one of his happiest hunting grounds, the 36-year-old has upped the ante considerably in the pre-bout posturings.

For Lawrie, who was travelling across the Atlantic today with his wife Marian and youngest son Michael, the opportunity to be involved in this captivating frenzy is one to be savoured.

"Augusta is a simply magical place, there is nowhere in the world quite like it," said Lawrie, who missed the cut on his first three visits to Augusta but did finish in a share of 15th in 2003, his highest placing in a Major since he plundered the Claret Jug at Carnoustie in 1999.

"I actually led for a wee while back in 2003. I had my chances at playing there after The Open and it's been frustrating not being back there for a long time. It's one of those places you need to know, but I'm a different player now, a better player. Saying that, I'm not going to set some high expectation. I never do that. As soon as you say you're aiming for something and you don't achieve it, you get slaughtered."

And on a rejuvenated Woods? "I watched him at Bay Hill and apart from one bad swing he was mag- nificent," added Lawrie, one third of a tartan triumvirate in the field next week which also includes Martin Laird and the 1988 champion, Sandy Lyle. "He's got his confidence back and you just feel he'll kick on."

The general consensus is that Tiger is, indeed, back. The roar that he let out when he put the tin lid on an imperious Bay Hill display echoed around the golfing landscape. Since he won the last of his 14 Majors at the 2008 US PGA Championship, there have been 13 different winners of the 14 grand slam contests played in that time.

A Woods win in a Major used to arrive with all the inevitability of night following day before his career unravelled in the wake of a clatter into a fire hydrant. A return to his previous majesty at the head of the global order is being predicted by all and sundry, but that throne is heavily surrounded now by Donald, McIlroy and Westwood.

It's been 16 years since a UK golfer triumphed at the Masters, when Nick Faldo took advantage of Greg Norman's excruciating final-day collapse in 1996. Of course, it was another monumental meltdown which defined the 2011 tournament. Charl Schwartzel's dazzling acceleration over the winning line last year was largely overshadowed by the wreckage from the McIlroy crash as the Northern Irishman's hopes disintegrated with a closing 80 having led by four.

"What happened at Augusta won't happen again," said an emboldened McIlroy, who buried some of those demons with a record-breaking US Open triumph in June before briefly rising to the head of the world rankings at the start of March as he staved off a charging Woods to secure the Honda Classic.

Donald, with three top-10 finishes in seven Masters appearances, swiftly returned to the top of the tree with his sparkling win in the recent Transitions Championship and, after a slow start to the campaign, the Englishman seems to have paced himself perfectly in his quest for a maiden Major crown.

And then there is Westwood. With six top-three finishes in the Majors since 2008, the 39-year-old continues to batter on the door of success, but his chipping remains his Achilles' heel and nowhere does that aspect of the game come under more scrutiny than at Augusta National.

Throw in Graeme McDowell and Justin Rose and you have quite a mix. "Tiger's making a comeback, and all of the pieces of the puzzle are falling into place," suggested Donald.

It will all finally come together in five days' time.