Lawrie leads as weather plays havoc

Former Open champion Paul Lawrie lived up to his billing as a bad-weather specialist in the third round of the Portuguese Open today.

Lawrie shrugged off three separate delays caused by torrential rain to claim the lead at Oitavos Golf Club.

The Scot carded a superb 66 in near-darkness to finish 11 under par, one shot ahead of England’s Barry Lane.

Lane was in the middle of the 16th fairway when he decided it was too dark to carry on, and the 44-year-old is one of six players who will return to the course to complete their rounds on Sunday.

Halfway leaders Paul Broadhurst and Jose-Filipe Lima are a shot further back on nine under and in the same group as Lane.

Lawrie made just 12 cuts in 23 events last year, finishing 140th on the Order of Merit. That would have cost him his tour card for this season but for a 10-year exemption for his victory at Carnoustie in 1999.

The Scot has slumped to 346th in the world rankings and has not won since the 2002 Wales Open, where he was forced to play 36 holes on the final day due to delays for rain, fog and lightning.

The 36-year-old’s first tour win in the 1996 Open Catalonia also came when the tournament was reduced to 36 holes because of high winds.

He did master the Shamal winds in Qatar to win over 72 holes in 1999 before his famous win at Carnoustie a few months later, and won the Dunhill Links Championship last year when more bad weather forced the tournament into a fifth day.

Even his win in the 2002 Scottish Matchplay Championship was affected by bad weather, the final moved from Deeside because of flooding to his native Aberdeen, only to be further delayed by fog.

Lawrie began the day two shots off the lead but dodged the downpours to pick up birdies at the third and fourth from 14 and 12 feet respectively.

Another birdie on the seventh took him out in 33 and the daunting 10th was also covered in just three shots for a fourth birdie of the day.

Two more birdies on the 13th and 14th briefly took him three shots clear of the field, but he was lucky to escape from the 15th with a bogey after a terrible tee shot into trees.

He quickly repaired the damage with a birdie on the par-five 16th and was again fortunate only to drop one shot on the 17th.

His approach flew straight over the green but landed on the seat of a buggy which stopped it careering into further trouble.

“I played nicely again and apart from hitting the wrong club on the 17th it was a really good day,” said Lawrie.

“It was good to finish given the light situation.”

Asked about his apparent preference for tough conditions, Lawrie admitted: “It seems to be, you can’t deny that.

“It’s pretty bad back home half the time so I just stand up there and keep playing. It doesn’t bother me at all, be it a nice day or a horrible day. You have to try to not let it affect you.

“It would be nice to have sunshine tomorrow instead of wind but I’m not bothered.”