In the 18-year history of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, only two men have won the annual European Tour event twice—Adam Scott and Paul Lawrie.
While Australian Scott won in 2002 and 2008, Scotland’s Lawrie first won it in 1999 and then most recently in 2012.
Yesterday, after the first round of the 2016 CBQM at the Doha Golf Club here, Lawrie put himself in a comfortable position to go for a third title in Qatar with a five-under 67. It was a fine recovery by the 47-year-old Scot after he opened his round with a horrendous bogie.
Lawrie, who rates the DGC course among his most favourite ones, believes his game is perfectly suited to windy conditions that are normally a norm at this time of the year. The Scot sits just two shots off the lead held by Louis Oosthuizen and Pablo Larrazabal, who both shot 65s.
Lawrie, who won the Open Championship on a wild Carnoustie in 1999, the same year he won his first Qatar Masters title, believes he has the attributes to conquer the elements in Doha.
“I am happy knocking it down,” he said. “I am happy hitting five-iron 160 yards into kind of a strong breeze. I’ve always been able to do it, stick the ball a bit further back in the stance and take a bit of speed off it.
“It’s not rocket science,” he added, “So I kind of quite enjoy doing that. I quite enjoy manoeuvring the ball and kind of shaping the ball. So when it’s like this, sometimes, I kind of get a bit out of it. You’ve got to shape the ball around here. The pins are sometimes quite tight. The greens are pretty firm.
“You’ve got to be able to control the flight of your ball really well around here, which I’ve always been able to do. It’s not something that I’ve ever really worked on. I’m not saying that you’re guaranteed to do well if it’s blowing, it’s not like that. It’s still pretty tough out there and there are a lot of good players in the field, many of whom enjoy playing in windy conditions like me. But I always feel kind of pretty comfortable when it’s blowing a wee bit.”
The Scot’s victory at the 1999 Open Championship is part of golfing folklore, as he resurged from 10 strokes behind with a final round 67 to book a place in the four-hole play-off, and then birdied the final two holes to beat Frenchman Jean Van de Velde and 1997 Open Champion Justin Leonard to take the Claret Jug.
The following years were a mix of highs and lows for Lawrie. His next win came two years later, in 2001 at the inaugural Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews. After a long winless stretch, he enjoyed something of a renaissance in 2011 and 2012, winning three times to claim a place in the 2012 European Ryder Cup team.
He is now actively involved in promoting the game at the grass roots through the Paul Lawrie Foundation. Last year he hosted his own European Tour event, the Saltire Energy Paul Lawrie Match Play at Murcar Links.
With just three top-10 finishes since 2012, Lawrie is looking to regain his form and the way the 47-year-old played his Qatar Masters campaign yesterday, it looks like he’s on the right track.
“I always enjoy playing here. I’ve had a lot of good rounds here, a lot of success, won twice, and had quite a few good weeks here over the years. The best thing about this course is, it has not changed much over the years. It has always been windy, and the scoring has always been pretty good despite the tough conditions because the course is always in great condition,” he said.
“I feel really good after my round today. It was good recovery after a bad start and I think I’m not far away from a good result. Hopefully this will be a good week for me,” Lawrie, currently ranked a distant 316 in the world, added.

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