Paul Stewart Lawrie (born 1 January 1969) is a Scottish

professional golfer A professional golfer is somebody who receives payments or financial rewards in the sport of golf that are directly related to their skill or reputation. A person who earns money by teaching or playing golf is traditionally considered a "golf p ...

who is best known for winning

The Open Championship The Open Championship, often referred to as The Open or the British Open, is the oldest golf tournament in the world, and one of the most prestigious. Founded in 1860, it was originally held annually at Prestwick Golf Club in Scotland. Later t ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

. He was a vice-captain for the European

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named af ...

team in 2016. paul lawrie pga scottish hydro

Early career

Lawrie was born in

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), a ...

and turned professional in 1986. in 1990 he won the

Scottish Assistants' Championship The Scottish Young Professional Championship is a golf tournament for young golfers that has been played since 1958. From its founding until 2002 it was known as the Scottish Assistants' Championship. Initially played over 36 holes it has generall ...

at Cruden Bay by five strokes and the Scottish Under-25 Championship at Deer Park by seven strokes. In 1991 he won the Daily Express Scottish National Pro-am at Carnoustie by a stroke from

Craig Maltman Thomas Craig Maltman (born 23 March 1953) is a Scottish professional golfer. He had some successes in Scottish events, winning the Scottish Assistants' Championship three times and winning the Tartan Tour Order of Merit in 1989 after winning the ...

. He became a member of the

European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fi ...

in 1992. He performed steadily without doing much to draw attention to himself, aside from a 6th-place finish in the 1993 Open Championship. In his first seven seasons his only top 50 finish on the Order of Merit came in 1996 when he was 21st. However he also finished in the top 100 in all but one of the other six seasons, and picked up a debut tour win at the 1996

Catalan Open The Catalan Open was a European Tour golf tournament which was played annually from 1989 to 1996, except for 1990. It was played at several different golf courses in Catalonia, Spain. It never had the same full official name two years in a row, d ...

1999 onwards

Lawrie's career was transformed in 1999. After winning the

Qatar Masters The Qatar Masters was a European Tour golf tournament held at Doha Golf Club in Doha, Qatar. When founded in 1998, it was one of two European Tour events to be staged in the Arabian Peninsula, but was at one point, one of six. From 2005 to 2007 ...

(a European Tour event) early in the season, he went on to win the 1999 Open Championship at

Carnoustie Carnoustie (; sco, Carnoustie, gd, Càrn Ùstaidh) is a town and former police burgh in the council area of Angus, Scotland. It is at the mouth of the Barry Burn on the North Sea coast. In the 2011 census, Carnoustie had a population of 1 ...

in July. This was the Open where the

Frenchman The French people (french: Français) are an ethnic group and nation primarily located in Western Europe that share a common French culture, history, and language, identified with the country of France. The French people, especially th ...

Jean van de Velde blew a three-shot lead on the final hole. Lawrie won a four-hole playoff against Van de Velde and American

Justin Leonard Justin Charles Garrett Leonard (born June 15, 1972) is an American professional golfer. He has twelve career wins on the PGA Tour, including one major, the 1997 Open Championship. Early years Born and raised in Dallas, Texas, Leonard graduated ...

. An unusual aspect of Lawrie's victory was that he was neither leader nor co-leader at any time during his regulation 72 holes, only moving into a share of the lead when the leaders came back to him after he had completed his final round. Also, Lawrie came back from the largest third-round deficit ever faced by a major championship winner - going into the final day, he trailed the leader, Van de Velde, by 10 shots. This is also the record for the biggest final-round comeback on the PGA Tour. After his major championship victory, Lawrie's game shifted to a higher level without quite moving him into the global

elite In political and sociological theory, the elite (french: élite, from la, eligere, to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. ...

group of golfers. He finished 9th on the European Tour Order of Merit in 1999; 6th in 2001, when he captured the lucrative

Dunhill Links Championship The Alfred Dunhill Links Championship is one of the richest golf tournaments on the European Tour. It is played in September, on three different links courses, centred on the "home of golf", St Andrews in Fife, Scotland. The tournament is a p ...

; and 10th in 2002, when he won his fifth European Tour title at the Celtic Manor Resort Wales Open. In March 2001, the Paul Lawrie Foundation was created. The Foundation aims to support and sustain an interest and enthusiasm for the game of golf amongst under 18s. Activities are delivered in a fun and relaxed setting with equipment provided if necessary. The Foundation has grown rapidly and now includes football and hockey. In 2011, a 54-hole tournament, the

Paul Lawrie Invitational Paul may refer to: * Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

was added to the Tartan Tour. After winning the Open, Lawrie was a member of the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized in all capital letters as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in the United States and North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also ...

for several seasons, while also continuing to compete on the European Tour. He enjoyed little success in the U.S. and when his five-year major championship exemption expired at the end of the 2004 season, he lost his PGA Tour card. paul lawrie in the rough

Lawrie was the last European player to win a

major Major ( commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicato ...

until 2007, when that drought was ended by

Pádraig Harrington Pádraig Peter Harrington (born 31 August 1971) is an Irish professional golfer who plays on the European Tour, PGA Tour and the PGA Tour Champions. He has won three major championships: The Open Championship in 2007 and 2008 and the PGA Champi ...

of Ireland in

. He was the last player from the United Kingdom to win a major until

Graeme McDowell Graeme McDowell (born 30 July 1979) is a professional golfer from Northern Ireland. He has a total of eleven tournament victories on the European Tour, and four on the PGA Tour, including one major championship, the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble ...

won the 2010 U.S. Open. Lawrie is still the last player from Scotland to win a major. At the 2009 Open Championship at Turnberry, Lawrie scored what is believed to be only the eighth

albatross Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds related to the procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pac ...

(double eagle) in the competition's 150-year history by holing his second shot at the par 5 seventh hole in the final round. On 27 March 2011, Lawrie won the Open de Andalucía de Golf by one stroke over

Johan Edfors Johan Edfors (born 10 October 1975) is a Swedish professional golfer who plays primarily on the European Tour. Early life and amateur career Edfors was born in Varberg. He attended the University of Texas at San Antonio on a Division I athletic ...

. Lawrie finished the championship at −12 and in doing so ended a nine-year period without a tour win. In February 2012, Lawrie won the Commercialbank Qatar Masters for the second time in his career, having previously won in 1999. Lawrie became only the second player to have won the tournament more than once alongside Adam Scott. It was Lawrie's seventh win on the

. The tournament was reduced to 54 holes after strong winds hampered the play during rounds one and two. He won by four strokes over

Jason Day Jason Day (born 12 November 1987) is an Australian professional golfer, PGA Tour member and winner of the 2015 PGA Championship. He is a former world number one in the World Golf Ranking, having first achieved the ranking in September 2015. ...

and

Peter Hanson Peter Daniel Hanson (born 4 October 1977) is a Swedish former professional golfer who played on the European Tour and has played on the PGA Tour. Early life Hanson was born in Svedala, in Skåne county in the south of Sweden. He was first intr ...

after a final round of 65. Lawrie skipped the 2012 U.S. Open in an attempt to qualify for the 2012 Ryder Cup. He secured qualification with victory at the

Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles The Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles was a European Tour golf tournament which was played at the Gleneagles Hotel in Scotland. The tournament was founded in 1999 as the Scottish PGA Championship, and despite maintaining the same sponsor, ...

in August. He has stated that he would accept the captain's role for the 2014 Ryder Cup if offered. Lawrie helped Team Europe retain the

at Medinah. He finished the season in the top 10 of the Order of Merit for the first time in ten years. Lawrie was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in 2000 and

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(OBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for voluntary service to golf. On 1 October 2020, Lawrie announced that he would be retiring from the

following his 620th career event at the

Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open The Genesis Scottish Open is a professional golf tournament in Scotland, and is one of five tournaments that are part of the Rolex Series, which identifies it as one of the European Tour's premier events. It has been played on various courses, ...

due to back problems and would instead compete on the

European Senior Tour The Legends Tour is the current branding of the European Senior Tour, a professional tour for male golfers aged 50 and over, run by the PGA European Tour. The tour was branded as the Staysure Tour for the 2018 and 2019 seasons after UK-based insu ...

moving forward.

Non-playing work

Lawrie is passionate about junior golf and his Paul Lawrie Foundation has taught thousands of youngsters. In 2012 he bought Aspire Golf Centre in Aberdeen (now called the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre). Partly due to this, he was named by the Golf Club Managers' Association's Golf Club Management magazine as the 37th most powerful person in British golf. Lawrie is a fan of Aberdeen FC. Lawrie was a columnist for ''

bunkered ''bunkered'' is a Scottish golf magazine published by DC Thomson. Based in Dundee, Scotland, the magazine was launched in 1996 and is published eight times per year. It covers the entire spectrum of golf, with a particular emphasis on Scottish ...

'' golf magazine between 1999 and 2004. Lawrie has his own golf brand, called Cardinal Golf.

Family

Lawrie's son Craig is also a professional golfer.

Professional wins (19)

PGA Tour wins (1)

PGA Tour playoff record (1–0)

European Tour wins (8)

*''Note: Tournament shortened to 36/54 holes due to weather.'' European Tour playoff record (1–2)

Sunshine Tour wins (1)

Sunshine Tour playoff record (0–1)

Other wins (7)

*1990

, Scottish Under-25 Championship *1991 Daily Express Scottish National Pro-am *1992 UAP European Under-25 Championship,

Scottish PGA Championship The Scottish PGA Championship is a golf tournament played annually in Scotland since 1907. For many years the event was called the Scottish Professional Championship. It is the flagship event on the "Tartan Tour", the PGA Tour in Scotland's sched ...

*2002 Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Match Play Championship *2005

European Senior Tour wins (3)

European Senior Tour playoff record (1–1)

Major championships

Wins (1)

¹Defeated Leonard and van de Velde in 4-hole playoff: Lawrie (5-4-3-3=15), Leonard (5-4-4-5=18), van de Velde (6-4-3-5=18).

Results timeline

''Results not in chronological order in 2020.'' CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
NT = No tournament due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

Summary

*Most consecutive cuts made – 7 (2011 Open Championship – 2013 Open Championship) *Longest streak of top-10s – 1 (twice)

Results in The Players Championship

CUT = missed the halfway cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place

Results in World Golf Championships

''Results not in chronological order before 2015.'' ¹Cancelled due to

9/11 The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerci ...

QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play
"T" = Tied
Note that the HSBC Champions did not become a WGC event until 2009.

Team appearances

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

(representing Scotland):

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

Alfred Dunhill Cup The Alfred Dunhill Cup was a team golf tournament which ran from 1985 to 2000, sponsored by Alfred Dunhill Ltd. It was for three-man teams of professional golfers, one team representing each country, and was promoted as the "World Team Championshi ...

(representing Scotland):

(representing Europe):

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

(winners) * Seve Trophy (representing Great Britain & Ireland):

(winners),

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

Royal Trophy The Royal Trophy was a men's professional team golf tournament which was played between 2006 and 2013. The competing teams represented Europe and Asia. Eight man teams played a series of 16 matches involving foursomes, four-ball and singles for the ...