Lawrie apologises for refusing to speak to media after matchplay defeat

Golf Correspondent

Tuesday 22 May 2012

The angst-laden cobbling together of letters on Paul Lawrie's personal website summed it up; "Arghhhhh," screamed the former Open champion's blog as he tried to express in words his fury and exasperation that followed his semi-final defeat by Nicolas Colsaerts in the Volvo World Matchplay Championship at the weekend.

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Nick Rodger

Lawrie was so enraged at surrendering an early four-hole lead against the Belgian in his 500th European Tour appearance that he refused to speak to the media in the immediate aftermath. "My actions were unlike me but that's the angriest I've ever been coming off a course. But that's no excuse (for not speaking) so I'm sorry," he posted on paullawriegolf.com after the dust had settled.

Lawrie's desire and passion for a return to the Ryder Cup arena after a 13-year gap is clear to see and you could forgive the Scot for his post-match silence. Having illuminated his run to the last-four with emphatic wins over Thomas Bjorn (5&4) and Retief Goosen (6&5), Lawrie's competitive instinct and abundant matchplay qualities were all in evidence.Sunday afternoon was a chance to take another significant step towards Medinah and what would be the "biggest achievement of my career", so it's hardly surprising that the manner of his 20th hole defeat to Colsaerts was a hard one to swallow.Of course, the rejuvenated Lawrie is still very much in the Ryder Cup picture and is handily placed in fourth place on the European points list, with the leading five at the end of the qualifying process earning a trip to Chicago.With some of the biggest events of the year still to come, every point is a prisoner. Lawrie will be at Wentworth this week for the BMW PGA Championship but has opted to miss June's US Open in San Francisco, an event in which he has made the cut just once in four previous appearances, in favour of an assault on the European circuit's BMW International Open in Germany the following week.Eyebrows were raised when he struck a major from his diary but Lawrie knows what he's doing with regards to his schedule and, despite the pain in Spain at the weekend, the Scot continues to make progress in his Ryder Cup quest.Meanwhile, Jose Maria Olazabal, the Europe captain, last night confirmed that he will have the "extra eyes" of four vice-captains for the match with the US. The Spaniard denied reports he would employ only two and is to follow the lead of his predecessor, Colin Montgomerie, who took Darren Clarke, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn and Sergio Garcia on board for the 2010 match.Olazabal himself became a fifth assistant at Celtic Manor when he was drafted in to add extra support after bad weather meant there were six matches in one session."You need eyes, extra eyes to follow the players in the practice rounds to gather as much information as you can about how everyone is playing," said Olazabal, who will name his vice-captains in due course. "I would say it is borderline to do the Ryder Cup with fewer than four vice-captains. Never at any time have I considered reducing that number to three, let alone two."

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Lawrie apologises for refusing to speak to media after matchplay defeat

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