It leaves the Aberdonian as the man to catch in the Staysure PGA Seniors Championship heading into the weekend on his home course. Speaking after his round, Lawrie was delighted with his day’s work: “I played really nicely, I controlled the ball flight very well today and that is what you’ve got to do when it gets a wee bit breezy. Kept it down and took a lot of speed off the swings today, kept it down and holed out really well.
“You’ve got to hole out, when it’s windy it’s always going to be three to six or seven feet from the hole even if you’ve hit a nice shot.
“There are two putters in particular that I use – so, if one’s not working it gets a rest and the other one gets off the bench. I didn’t putt great yesterday at all, but it was a lot better today.
“It doesn’t matter how good you are or what kind of level of player you are, it’s always the same to get off to a nice, steady start and then bang! I’ve had quite a bit of success in Scotland, three big wins here. I always find it a little easier to play, you know, in my home country, which a lot of players don’t.
“I feel more comfortable, I feel quite at ease playing in front of them and played some nice golf today. So, hopefully we can continue that over the weekend.
“I think it’s pretty good. It was a nice knock this morning, it wasn’t that easy – we only had about two or three holes when it was calm-ish, but it was still blowing. Then coming in there the last six or seven holes, it was pretty breezy – so, it’s a good knock today.
“It’s just another event, you’ve got to do that as a pro. When you play golf for a living, as soon as you get excited then you’re in big trouble. So, I’m going to be as grumpy tomorrow as I was today, unfortunately. But that’s just how I do it. I don’t see any event any more important. It would be nice to win here, of course it would, but let’s not think about that until Sunday afternoon.”
Rob Coles is the man leading the chase behind Lawrie. The Englishman’s second successive round of 69 moves him to within two shots of the lead as he made five birdies- although he did drop two shots in his final four holes: “Very pleased, anytime you break par on a day like today, you’re pleased. It got a little bit scrappy in the end, which was a shame, but I was delighted with the day. Any links course, you always expect it to be worse conditions in the afternoon – so, I thought if I could break par then I knew wouldn’t be too far away.”
Now his task is to hunt the man who matched the course-record on day two, an unenviable task trying to overtake Paul Lawrie: “He sets a standard, he is the standard! Six under? That’s a phenomenal score – if you played here in flat calm and shot 66, you’d be amazed. So, that’s brilliant.”
Two of the overnight leaders now share third place going into the third round. Simon Khan and Gary Orr both carded rounds of 73 after their opening day 68’s.
Alex Cejka and Michael Campbell both sit at two-under-par, six shots off the lead, while Doug McGuigan and Paul Eales are a shot further back.
Tournament host Colin Montgomerie signed for a Friday 73 after his first round of 71, which leaves him in a share of ninth place at level par heading into the weekend.
The defending champion, Peter Baker, made a four-over-par 76 on day two to push him ten shots back from Lawrie, while Ian Woosnam would end the day on four-over-par after his round of 73 – enough to safely make the cut.
The field of 90 was trimmed down to 60 and ties going into the third round, with José María Olazábal making it in on the number of seven-over-par.
Those missing out on the weekend action at Trump International Golf Links include Peter Lawrie (+9), Paul McGinley (+11) and John Daly (+11).
The third round of the Staysure PGA Seniors Championship gets underway and 8:30 on Saturday morning, with gates opening at 8:15. Tickets are available online via legendstour.com/tickets or on the gate, while car parking on site is free.
For further spectator information, see our “What to expect at Trump International” article in tthe news section on legendstour.com/news
