Paul Lawrie: heresy!
Speaking to John Huggan in advance of this week’s Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open, home favourite Paul Lawrie again explained his decision to skip last month’s US Open Championship at the Olympic Club in San Francisco.
Desperate for Ryder Cup points and a strong finish to the season, the 1999 Open champion was unwilling to risk his form in the pursuit of USGA-approved technical purity.
“While I must admit I didn’t watch much of the play, the number of people who have since told me I missed nothing has been reassuring…
“From what I did see it looked like the sort of course I wouldn’t have enjoyed playing. I’ve never been a fan of that style of golf. I could have gone over there and destroyed all the confidence I have built up over the last year or so. So, although I take no pleasure from the fact that I made the right decision not to go, I’m glad I did what I did.”
It’s rare to hear a player back up contempt for the USGA’s ideological activism by deciding not to attend the tournament; we’re more used to hearing American players dream up excuses for skipping the Open Championship.
Either way, is it ever right to skip a major championship? Is attendance a question of decorum and respect for the game, regardless of the venue or set-up?
Conor Nagle
(link via Shackelford)
I know watching it on tv was about as exciting as watching paint dry. The course looked cool in HD but did not look at all fun to play. Good call buddy!
his right to play where he chooses,
For Lawrie, the glass is half empty. Wouldn’t he actually GAIN confidence by successfully performing a golf shot while overcoming an extremely difficult circumstance? U.S. Open Golf is much more enjoyable for me to watch and is a great diversion. If I wanted to constantly see a bunch of Robotic Clones destroy a golf course, all hitting the same shots, I would wander down to the nearest pub and hover around the Golden Tee machine.
What? Hitting a few good shots doesn’t give you confidence…. more than likely he would’ve been demolished by the course like many of the other players who ended up shooting double-digits over par…. which is BAD for confidence, smart one
did anyone else even notice he wasn’t playing?
The interesting thing is that Bob Estes posted over in Shack that the USGA course was the most open like course they’d play all year. It was running firm and fast, and a lot of guys were bouncing shots up on the green.
Also the US Open (in terms of winning/contending) was much more a test of scrambling out of rough, then it was fairways and greens (they were to hard to hit).
What is he going to do if the rough is up at Medinah? Being able to play diff styles is what makes for a great golfer.
What a pathetic and cowardly move on his part. No different then when Kenny Perry bailed on the Open Championship to rack up Ryder Cup points at the weak opposite field event. But pitiful. If you are a pro golfer, a major winner no less, and you are invited to complete in a major, you should be there, injury or other circumstances excepted. And then to take shots at the event or the course after the fact – terrible form. The only good news is that I’m sure not one ticket less was sold, and not one TV viewer stayed away due to his absence (on Thursday and Friday, weekend play not likely with his attitude), and another deserving player got to participate. His loss, not the US Open’s.
Apparently they don’t sell deep fried Mars bars at the US Open so how could Paul have maintained his high nutrition diet?
Of course he is free to pick and choose where he plays, calling him cowardly is just silly. Arguably braver to skip it honestly and say why, which is get into the Ryder Cup which is as big or bigger than the US Open.
Ironically Lawrie won his Open Championship at ‘Carnasty’ which many (US) players at the time complained was too difficult.
Two points to make:
1) He wasn’t “wrong” to skip the tournament. I don’t buy the argument that he (or any other player) owes the game of golf or its governing bodies any respect above the base level afforded to all sentient beings.
2) To hear him speak of his confidence as such a brittle, fragile commodity is surprising. This is a former major winner — and one who, 13 years after his major victory, has struck the richest vein of form in his career. And he doesn’t have the audacity to presume he might happen to play well in the US Open? Not the attitude of a champion, that’s for damn sure.
I don’t think much of Olympic as an Open venue either. Wasn’t designed to play anywhere near that fast. As for Lawrie, he can’t win it if he doesn’t play.
@HP….nope
Yea, with golfjam… nobody noticed. LOL
>Either way, is it ever right to skip a major championship?
That’s a fair question.
I can give Webb a pass if he does skip The Open for the birth of his child, that’s a fair reason. Especially if you’re young and going to be playing in every major for the next 15 years as he certainly will.
Skipping it because you don’t like the course? Hmmm. Aren’t there a small number of Americans every year who skip The Open because they don’t like the style or want to travel that far? I’m not sure where I fall on them, or Lawrie here. They can do what they want, that I agree with, but I lose some respect for their competitiveness if they do.
I guess to supplement – the skipping is pretty bad/lame, but it is the idea that they want to get Ryder Cup points, and mean to do so at a lesser tier event that really what irritates me. If I were a Captain, I think I would tell any would be players -you play the majors if you even want to think about being one of my Capt’s picks. If you skip, you better get in on the numbers alone.
He didn’t miss the USOpen to get Ryder Cup points that week. His point was that the warm up the week before, the travelling and trying to come down after a major takes 3-4 weeks in total. His decision, right or wrong, was to plat continuously in Europe. Lawrie is a low-flight ball striker who plays best when he can shape shots into greens with lots of bounce and roll. For him, this was the right choice