PAUL Lawrie made it an unwelcome hat-trick of missed Open cuts yesterday when he finished on ten over par for the tournament.
The Aberdonian, and former champion, had another Open to forget when posting a three-over par round of 73.
Lawrie began to claw his way back into the tournament with a birdie at the par-4 third hole, but then slipped away again with three success
ive bogeys in the back nine.
This doomed his bid to beat the cut. Now he must look to Turnberry next year and hope the tenth anniversary of his win at Carnoustie in 1999 inspires him to greater heights.
Lawrie has only made it to the weekend on three occasions since winning his victory in Angus. This was his third successive missed cut and Lawrie was suitably downbeat yesterday afternoon.
He was, though, planning to stick around just in case the projected cut lowered as far as ten over par. It didn't, and Lawrie was left to rue a torrid day with his irons.
"I drove it really well but only found four greens," the Scot lamented.
"I just pulled so many iron shots. You can't get by when one part of your game is so poor."
He said he couldn't remember when he played so many successive iron shots so poorly, and was trenchant when asked to describe his score. "Rubbish," he said.
But he rounded on those who criticised the course set-up, with many Americans having complained of badly positioned pins and tees.
With a gale having blown on Thursday, one complaint had been the decision not to move the tees forward.
Lawrie, however, was content with what he found at Royal Birkdale over the last few days, and blamed his performance on his own shortcomings.
"The US Open is much more difficult," the Aberdonian pointed out.
Barry Hume joined his fellow countryman in making an early exit from the Championship as he finished a further two strokes back on 12 over par.
The 26-year-old, who played in the 2004 Open at Troon, fired a second consecutive round of six-over par 76, with double bogeys at the par-4 6th and par-5 15th proving costly for the former Scottish Amateur champion.
Doug McGuigan also had an Open to forget and Scotland might regret that he elected to fly the Saltire this week.
The Durban-born player, whose father lives in Montrose, finished on fourteen over par.
He carded a five over par 75 yesterday and also collected three successive bogeys during the last nine holes. He was, however, already looking elimination square in the face.
The full article contains 452 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
