Paul Lawrie is fine with early starts – ‘I’m 53, so I’m wide awake at 4:30. By 5am I’ve had my pee’ – so teeing off at 6.35 was never going to be a problem. Throw in hitting the opening tee shot of the 150th Open and everything gets a bit tighter.
The Scot has actually hit the opening shot in the Championship, here at the 2010 Open, but that was before it became a nod towards the great and good of the game. This time he would be getting the Open underway, in his home country and with his son on the bag.
If there was anywhere that you would want to be given this honour it would be at St Andrews, both for the occasion and the setting and, maybe more than that with everyone asking you about this one shot for the past few days, what lies ahead of you. A wide expanse of land where pretty much every club will do the job for you but still with that lingering doubt that something horrific could still take place – three groups later Ian Poulter very nearly hooked it out of bounds.
A shot that Lawrie, now an honorary member of St Andrews, is all too familiar with.
“When we had the Champions challenge the first year, I hit first because I was defending champion and I hit a horrible poor hook and it was only a few yards from the fence. Tom Weiskopf was next and, as he was walking over, he whispered in my ear, thank. He hit it right next to my ball. The pair of us hit terrible shots down there. I would say that’s the most nervous I’ve ever been, apart from the ’99 opening tee shot,” Lawrie explained earlier in the week.
“I’m always nervous on the 1st tee. I’m never great on the 1st tee. No matter what tournament I’m playing in I’m always a wee bit nervous. But obviously it’ll be a little bit more because it’s The Open and it’s the 150th. The stand on the right looks a bit closer than it did before.”
The wait is finally over.@PaulLawriegolf gets a landmark Championship under way🏌️#The150thOpen pic.twitter.com/ZEjzpuUtnuJuly 14, 2022
The 1st tee on the Thursday morning of The Open has always been a great tradition and it’s…
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