Paul Lawrie showed everyone how to do it on day two of the Staysure Seniors PGA in Scotland. A magnificent six-under on home turf would blitz the field for the local favourite. Lawrie sits three clear of Robert Coles and with clear water to the third-place duo of Simon Khan and Gary Orr.
“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.” Lawrie reflected after his day. “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.”
Lawrie was relishing the opportunity of playing in Scotland, “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.”
Only eight players would make it under par at the halfway stage. With the host Colin Montgomerie lurking at the top of an experienced bunch on level par for the week. David Higgins heads up the Irish charge as he sits on two-over for the week after back-to-back 73s.
Peter Lawrie comes in next of the Irish pack. A day to forget for the 2008 Open de Espana winner. A treble bogey eight on the par-5 fourth compounded another five dropped shots to sink Lawrie back into the pack. He sits on nine-over after his 78 on day two and won’t compete over the weekend. Paul McGinley follows up next with a better day. A 76 for the former Ryder Cup Captain on Trump International Golf Links in a change from the other end of the camera. He sits T73 and misses the cut into the weekend along with Lawrie.
Brendan McGovern comes next of the Irish brigade on +12 with Gary Murphy a shot further back. They won’t have to worry about the weekend’s action either, but for home favourite Lawrie, it’s business as usual and his approach is to treat it like any other week.
“It’s just another event, you’ve got to do that as a pro,” he explained. “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.”
