The harsh reality of surviving as a tour professional without a tour card will likely be a motivating 15th club in the bag for Peter Lawrie, who will seek to make the most from a sponsor's invitation into the South African Open at Glendower Golf Club outside Johannesburg.
The Dubliner – who lost his card last season, having played on the tour for 12 straight years, and then missed out by one shot at the Q-School Final – is one of just two Irishmen, along with Gareth Maybin, competing in the South African tournament where Ernie Els leads a strong home brigade.
Waterford player Kevin Phelan is second reserve, and will have to rely on withdrawals if he is to get into the field.
Opportunities
For Lawrie, aware that such invitations are hard to come by, the pressure is to make the most of any such opportunities.
Although the €1 million purse is comparatively small by European Tour standards, a place in the field at least offers Lawrie the chance to put some prize money on the board and also provides the carrot of a place in next week’s Abu Dhabia championship should be manage to secure a top-10 finish.
Lawrie’s sole win on tour came in the 2008 Spanish Open, but his longevity with a tour card in hand is validated by his appearance in no fewer than 365 tournaments in his time on tour. He heads into the 2015 schedule with a different kind of pressure, however, aware that he must make the most of every opportunity which comes his way.
As if Lawrie needed any reminding of the amount of young blood on the tour, no fewer than 21 of those players who won tour cards at Q-School – among them Matt Fitzpatrick – and eight of those who earned their playing privileges off the Challenge Tour will be playing in Johannesburg.
The South African Open – in its 104th staging – is one of the oldest championships in professional golf and, naturally, features a strong Springbok presence: there are 67 home players led by five-time champion Els, who first triumphed back in 1992. Masters champion
Former Masters champion Charl Schwartzel and Branden Grace, winner of the Alfred Dunhill championship before Christmas, are also competing.
Whilst Lawrie and Maybin, who also lost his tour card last season but is playing in South African for finishing 123rd on last year’s order of merit, face into 2015 with undetermined schedules, Rory McIlroy picked up a golf club for the first time in four weeks on Monday in preparation for returning to competition in Abu Dhabi.
McIlroy’s first range session of the new year after four weeks without touching a club brought what he described as a couple of “interesting” swings.
The Ulsterman last played competitively at the Australian Open in November, but heads a star-studded entry in the desert next week where he will be joined by world number two Henrik Stenson and American Rickie Fowler. Desert Swing
Offaly’s
Shane Lowry
has opted to bypass the Desert Swing – deciding not to play in Abu Dhabi, Qatar or Dubai – and will make his first appearance of the year in next month’s Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines.
The event is also expected to mark the first competitive outing of the season for Tiger Woods.
Lowry, with a maiden appearance in the Masters on the horizon, is aiming to focus on playing in events in the United States for the first part of the season, and is unlikely to play in Europe until the B MW PGA at Wentworth in May.
