And, being a staunch Aberdeen supporter, he's developing into a nice, vintage red. The former Open champion may be celebrating his 43rd birthday on January 1, but the passing of the years has not diminished his ambitions.
Last Sunday, in the Middle East, Lawrie set the seal on a productive and profitable campaign on the European circuit with a superb second-place finish in the lucrative, season-ending Dubai World Championship at the Jumeirah Estates.
A spirited challenge, which was finally thwarted on the 18th green when Spain's Alvaro Quiros holed a raking putt for an eagle to win by two strokes, earned the Scot well in excess of £500,000. From 57th on the Race to Dubai rankings at the start of the week, he was propelled to 18th, his highest finish since he was 10th back in 2002.
Having ended a barren run of nine years without a European Tour victory by plundering the Andalucian Open in Malaga in March, 2011 has been a year of significant progress and positivity, despite the anguish of losing his close friend and long-time coach Adam Hunter, who passed away in October.
The strides made during the season have helped to galvanise Lawrie. As a member of the European Ryder Cup team during the infamous 'Battle of Brookline' in 1999 – the year he won the Claret Jug at Carnoustie – Lawrie is eager to return to the frenzied arena of team competition at the highest level.
With the next instalment of the transatlantic tussle taking place at Medinah in Chicago next year, the former Scottish PGA champion, now 87th in the world rankings, is determined to make a charge for Jose Maria Olazabal's 12-man side.
"You always set your schedule out with a Ryder Cup in mind and I'm desperate to do it," said Lawrie, who was a guest of honour at the Scottish PGA's annual awards lunch in Glasgow yesterday. "There's a long way to go and I'd be foolish to say I'll make it, but if I can continue playing like I did last week then there's no reason why I can't do it. The top 50 [in the world] is the holy grail and there's now light at the end of the tunnel. At my age you'd think I'd be slowing down, but I'm so keen to keep that feeling of Dubai going. When I got back I was out at Deeside, hitting balls again."
His efforts in Dubai were rewarded, not only with a hefty cheque, but with a place in the WGC Cadillac Championship at Doral, next March. That will offer considerable Ryder Cup points and, with the lucrative 'Desert Swing' at the start of the year taking in big-money events in Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Dubai, Lawrie is aiming to hit the ground running in his quest to end a 13-year absence from the Ryder Cup.
"I've not played in the US for four of five years and ideally I would like to add the Honda Classic to the schedule [the week before the Cadillac]," added the Aberdonian, who was re-united in Glasgow yesterday with Jean Van de Velde, the Frenchman who, arguably, became as famous for losing the Claret Jug as Lawrie did for winning it at Carnoustie. "The first five or 10 events will be important and I need to get off to a good start."
With the Ryder Cup bandwagon set to rumble into Gleneagles in 2014, Lawrie's name has been banded about with regards to the captaincy. Given his renaissance, however, the former Dunhill Links champion is not looking at slipping on the skipper's armband just yet. "I think I'd need to play in one more Ryder Cup before being a Ryder Cup captain," he admitted. "There are not many players who didn't play in at least two before being a captain. I don't see it for Gleneagles. I want to play at Gleneagles and I believe I'm getting better as I get older."
One thing that may hinder these lofty targets is a niggling injury to his left foot. Being a Granite City man, Lawrie is no softy and he is determined to plough on through the pain. He's used to the agony, of course, by making his occasional pilgrimages to Pittodrie. "I saw a specialist and he said there was a 40 per cent chance of an operation not working," he revealed. "He said it could take three or four operations to get it right. I've had three or four cortisone injections already and they are not keen to give me any more. For six or seven weeks a year it's really sore, but being from Aberdeen I'm used to the pain and I'll put up with it."
