CARNOUSTIE, Scotland – For a long time, Paul Lawrie felt he was owed an apology.
Now, he feels he has nothing to apologize for.
Lawrie was the accidental tourist winner of the 1999 British Open at Carnoustie, where the tournament morphed into more calamity than competition because of its diabolical set-up and the famous Jean Van de Velde collapse on the 72nd hole.
But because of those distracting series of unbelievable events at Carnoustie, where the Open will be played again this week for the first time since then, Lawrie became more of a footnote to the event despite being the winner and that chafed at him for years.
“I will be honest enough to say it annoyed me for quite a while,” Lawrie said. “But you learn with experience to live with it, and you can’t change the world so you get on with it. I know my name is on that (Claret) jug and it is not coming off and that is all that matters at the end of the day.
“It bugged me for a while the way the media saw it and latched on to what (Van de Velde) did rather than what I did,” Lawrie said. “But I suppose when you get a finish like that, that is going to happen. It is natural.”
What became unnatural to Lawrie was the attention – good and bad – that came to him after winning his only major.
Suddenly, the low-key lad from up the road in Aberdeen who’d played in relative anonymity on the European Tour was being watched closely with every swing he took.
People wanted to know if he was a fluke winner. After all, had it not been for Van de Velde’s historic collapse, few would have ever heard of Lawrie today.
“I have never been overly comfortable with the spotlight, because I am not that kind of person,” Lawrie said. “I am a back-of-the-room person rather than a front-of-the-room person. I don’t really need it. I don’t have an ego.
“But we are coming back to the place where I won the Open, and I am enjoying it. It is nice everyone now wants to speak to me. It’s nice the Open is coming back here and it’s a special place for me.”
Lawrie, who’s won just twice in the eight years since that Open victory (one in 2001 and one in 2002), is at Carnoustie this week searching for the magic that put him on the golf world map in ’99.
Asked what’s gone wrong for him since that supposed career-changing win, he said, “It’s a question myself and my team go through on a weekly basis. There is not a shot I cannot hit; I can hit it high, I can hit it low, I can draw it, I can fade it, I can putt pretty good, my short game is better than most. I don’t know. Mentally there are stronger players out there than me.
“I have what it takes to be a top 10 player in the world, but I’m obviously not that at the minute. I still have thoughts and the desire to become a top player again. As long as I still have that, I will continue to press on.
“I understand that everyone feels that I should be doing better, which is nice. People obviously think I’m better than what I am doing, which I think too. But you are only as good as your results. There are no lies. The teams at the bottom of the league are there because they are not very good, and I am [276th] in the world rankings right now because I am not doing my job as good as I should be.”
Lawrie said he’s never spoken to Van de Velde about his loss of that three-shot lead on the final hole of regulation that brought Lawrie into the playoff and allowed him to win.
“We have never really been in the same circles,” Lawrie said. “We’ve never been out for meals. I had breakfast with him once in the World Series [of Golf] in Ohio that same year. It was, ‘How’s things? What’s happening?’ But no mention of Carnoustie.”
Asked if he has any “sympathy” for Van de Velde, Lawrie said, “It doesn’t enter my thoughts at all about him or any other player. I look after my ball and that is all I can do.”
Party since 1999
Paul Lawrie’s career peaked with the 1999 British Open. Here’s what he has done since then:
Post-British victory
Scored 3½ points for Europe in 1999 Ryder Cup
Won 2001 Dunhill Links Championship
Won 2002 Wales Open 2007
Ranked No. 113 on European Tour
Ranked No. 276 in the world
Best finish: Tie for 11th at Qatar Open