Lawrie earns €140,000 for joint second

A POOR putt for par on the final hole robbed Peter Lawrie of finishing second on his own at the close of the Volvo China Open in Chenghu.

Lawrie birdied three of his closing six holes to finish joint runner-up on 20-under par with Dane Soren Kjeldsen (66), New Zealand’s Danny Lee (65) and Spain’s Pablo Martin (63).

However while the result is Lawrie’s best in eight months, the Dubliner left his birdie putt right in the jaws at the last that would have handed him second on his own behind Belguim’s Nicolas Colsaerts who won by four shots. Lawrie played the final two rounds in the company of Colsaerts and was full of praise for him.

“I played with Nicolas yesterday and today and he played some great golf, and really didn’t put a foot wrong,” said Lawrie.

“He hits the ball a long way off the tee and he also holed some nice putts. I tried to put pressure on him but he didn’t falter at all.”

Lawrie went into the final day just two strokes behind Colsaerts and while both birdied the first, Lawrie had to wait to the 13th before a next birdie.

“It’s a very pleasing but also a very disappointing result as I had a good chance there on 18 to break away and finish second by myself but just got the pace of the putt wrong,” said Lawrie.

“It was a slow putt and just didn’t hit it hard enough as I was concentrating more on the line.

“I got around quite nicely but then I didn’t play as well as I did the last three days but all in all, it’s not a bad week to have finished second.”

The effort is Lawrie’s fourth second place finish while his €140,086 prize cheque has lifted him to 42nd on the Race to Dubai money list.

Lawrie is remaining in Asia for this week’s Ballantine’s Championship in Seoul, Korea and then it’s back home for the birth of his fourth child.

Ballyclare’s Gareth Maybin has the Ballantine’s Championship and the following week’s Spanish Open before he ties the knot.

Maybin grabbed a share of tenth courtesy of a final round 67 for a 17-under par tally.

“It’s nice to finish top-10 as I played a lot better this week and that’s encouraging,” he said.

“So I will take a lot of good positive vibes from this including my strong finish.

“The eagle at 16 got me going and then I holed a good birdie putt on 17 but it was then disappointing not to birdie 18 as I played a poor chip shot to a really accessible pin.”

McGrane, winner in 2008, posted three closing rounds of 68 to share 22nd spot on 14-under par.

Meawhile Lee Westwood strolled to a three-stroke success with fans singing happy birthday to him down the final hole of the Indonesian Masters.