Lawrie looking to take next step

Scotland’s Paul Lawrie was today hoping to take another step closer to a remarkable golfing double as the 141st Open Championship continued at Royal Lytham.

Thirteen years after coming from 10 shots behind going into the final round to win the Open at Carnoustie, Lawrie found himself in contention to lift the Claret Jug for a second time.

An opening five-under-par 67 – which featured two chip-ins for birdie in the space of three holes – gave the 43-year-old a share of second place overnight, just one shot behind world number 13 Adam Scott.

And while winning another major title would be a massive achievement in itself - especially after a best finish of 42nd in 12 Open appearances since Carnoustie - it would also seal a return to the Ryder Cup 13 years after the so-called ’Battle of Brookline’.

Lawrie claimed three and a half points in Europe’s narrow defeat and would love to experience the contest again, especially after playing alongside US Ryder Cup captain Davis Love yesterday and today.

Love was quoted as saying that the Open “got the champion it deserved” after Lawrie’s win at Carnoustie, which was heavily criticised for the severity of the rough, although the American denied saying those words and Lawrie accepted his explanation.

“We’ve played quite a few times over the years and we get on pretty well,” Lawrie said. “We spoke a little bit about the Ryder Cup and how he was looking forward to being the captain, and it’s a huge honour for him.

“Obviously I’ve got a little bit of work to do before that (Ryder Cup qualification) happens. There’s still four to five weeks to go and I’m not a guarantee yet so I need to finish off this week and play as well as I can, and hopefully I can play against his team.”

Lawrie won the Qatar Masters earlier this season and was joint second in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth behind world number one Luke Donald, but missed the cut in last week’s Scottish Open in Inverness after a “horrific” putting display.

“I spent quite a few hours over the weekend, did quite a lot of work on it,” he added. “I putted as poorly as I can ever remember putting on Friday last week. You want to put up a reasonable show there, and I just putted horrific.

“So I went home and spent many hours on the indoor green I have that’s a perfect pace.”

Lawrie shared second place with former Masters champion Zach Johnson and Belgium’s Nicolas Colsaerts on a high-class leaderboard that also featured 2002 Open winner Ernie Els, Masters champion Bubba Watson, former US Open winners Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy and 14-time major winner Tiger Woods in joint sixth on three under.

However, defending champion Darren Clarke was facing a battle to make the halfway cut after an opening 76, while world number one Luke Donald and Padraig Harrington were level par and Lee Westwood three over.