The former Open champion, who enjoyed a renaissance in 2011, claiming a first win in nine years at the Andalucia Open before finishing runner-up in the Dubai World Championship, will look to continue that momentum in the €2 million Volvo Golf Champions event at Fancourt, which starts on Thursday.
The death of Hunter, the Glasgow coach who helped Lawrie win the 1999 Open at Carnoustie, last October at the age of 48 after losing a battle with leukaemia, was, and continues to be, sorely felt by Lawrie. However, amid the anguish, the Aberdonian has found new purpose as he seeks to honour the memory of his friend.
"He is definitely my driving force going into this year," said Lawrie of Hunter, who claimed his only European Tour win back in 1995 when he beat Darren Clarke in a play-off for the Portuguese Open title.
"I never got a chance to speak to him on his own in hospital but I would have liked to have been able to say a few things to him before he died. We all know what he meant to me.
"Whenever I went to visit him in hospital, which was quite frequently, I would come away wanting to do well for him, to do better for him. He was regularly texting me when he was lying in his hospital bed. His wife told me that even through the really bad stage of the illness, when he was at death's door, he was still asking for my score and how many fairways I had hit.
"So I think since Adam's death I've re-dedicated myself. I think of him all the time. I was in China playing the HSBC Champions [in November] and I played terribly in the first round. So afterwards I said to my caddie, 'give me the phone so I can give Adam a quick ring'. But of course, he's gone. You forget that he's not there any more and even today I still half expect him to walk through the door."
Having ended his European Tour title drought with that victory in Spain last March, Lawrie kicked on and finished 18th on the Race to Dubai rankings, his highest position since he was 10th in 2002.
"There is nothing better for your confidence than winning," Lawrie said. "Had I not won in Malaga it might have been a bit tougher. It's amazing how four or five good weeks can make you feel as though you are back. But I know as well as anyone that one week is not going to mean that I'm back there completely."
After a season of major highs and a desperate low, however, Lawrie is certainly on the right track.
