When that late funk, soul and dance music trailblazer, Prince, sang the words ‘I’m gonna party like it’s 1999’, he certainly wasn’t making reference to the aftermath of Paul Lawrie’s win in the Open of that year at Carnoustie.
“I remember Sir Alex Ferguson saying to me years later that we must have had a hell of a party after I won the Open but I told him we hadn’t,” reflected Lawrie of a fairly low-key night of glass-clinking that followed a job well done almost two decades ago. “He said that was a massive mistake and told me you should always celebrate success. At Man United they always celebrated success and I thought, ‘man, he’s right, I need to start drinking more.”
Before the healthy-living zealots come on shaking their heads, wagging their fingers and tut-tutting into their avocado smoothies, Lawrie is not advocating some kind of protest march against minimum pricing.
His moderation, dedication, discipline and drive is what helped him become a major champion, a multiple tour winner and a two-time Ryder Cup player and his thirst for competition and for winning was always far greater than his drouth for the odd libation.
“I was a whole different character back then and practiced morning noon and night to ensure I would be the best that I could be,” he said.
“I was hell bent on making sure I made the most of the opportunity I had given myself.”
Many a glass has been raised to Lawrie’s achievements down the years so it was perhaps fitting that he was at the Loch Lomond Whiskies Distillery the other day to have a dram from the autograph edition bottle that the company will release in his honour ahead of the Open’s return to Carnoustie in July.
“I had a deal with First Group and they named a bus after me but for someone who has been brought up and played golf in Scotland, a whisky association is something I always wanted,” added Lawrie of this journey from a bus to a booze.
Colin Montgomerie is also getting a malt produced to mark his association with the brand. Full-bodied, complex? That’s oor Monty.
As for Lawrie, the aforementioned reference to Sir Alex is pertinent as this decorated, celebrated Govan great recovers from a brain haemorrhage.
The Aberdeen connection, allied to Lawrie’s Open triumph, would forge a lasting respect and mutual admiration between these two inspiring figures of Scottish sport.
“I was at the BBC Sports Awards after winning the Open with Monty and Nick Faldo and Sir Alex came down the stairs with the Man Utd team and Monty said to me ‘you’ll know him really well’,” said Lawrie. “But I’d never met him although he had sent me a letter congratulating me on winning the Open. So Monty offered to introduce me.
“Colin went first and I was at the back but when he saw me, Sir Alex said ‘it’s great to meet you at last’. I thanked him for the letter and it was then he said that you need to celebrate success. We’ve kept in touch since then.
“Along with Sandy Lyle, he’s always been my sporting idol. They say you shouldn’t meet your heroes but these two are different class.”
As usual, it’s been a busy week for Lawrie. Yesterday, he was at Gullane doing his bit to promote this season’s Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open over the East Lothian links.
At 49, and with a niggling sair fit hindering his progress, Lawrie is well aware that it continues to be, well, a sair fecht amid the cut-and-thrust of top-level competition.
The Scottish Open, followed swiftly by the Open, always stirs the senses, though, and getting into the hunt would dull the pain of the aches just as effectively as a jab, a painkiller or even a robust measure of his own whisky.
Lawrie has already served up a treble Scotch by winning the Open, the Dunhill Links and the Johnnie Walker Championship on home soil. The Scottish Open would by quite a quadruple measure.
“I know if I can get myself to a certain level I’d have a chance,” he said of his Scottish Open ambitions. “When you get in contention, you don’t feel pain, it goes away. You don’t feel your foot is sore or your back is sore. You’re just thinking about winning.
“But getting yourself into contention is not easy against these boys. The level is phenomenal out there. I have an Open but the Scottish Open would complete the ultimate collection.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here