Earlier this week, four-year-old Craig Lawrie brought some of his pals into his parents' middle-class family home in Aberdeen. Seeing a rather special, silver claret jug sitting on a mantlepiece in the living room, one of the youngsters went over and began kissing it.

"Do you like my daddy's trophy," inquired Craig. With that, he asked one of his pals to follow him into his father's study, where he pointed to the top of a bookcase. "My daddy's got a lot of trophies," he said, bursting with pride.

Paul Lawrie recounted this little story yesterday, on the eve of the European Open, his first tournament performance as British Open champion. And it was beautifully reflective of the family values which have made the 30-year-old Scot a hero to the ordinary man.

Given his new-found status in the game, he was invited to stay at the five-star Kildare Hotel, on site. He courteously declined, explaining that he would rather pay for his own accommodation, with his coach Adam Hunter, at the more modest Keadeen Hotel in Newbridge. And he has yet to buy the Ferrari he promised himself, saying: "That's on hold. I would like it to be a Christmas present but we'll wait and see."

One got the distinct impression that Lawrie will cope rather well with having celebrity thrust upon him. In fact he appeared to be the very essence of a solid citizen as he talked about the consequences of his astonishing success at Carnoustie.

"I understand that everyone's expectation of me has gone up, but I have Adam (Hunter) with me quite a lot and we're back down to hitting balls," he said. "We had the video camera out this morning and as far as we're concerned, nothing's changed. Hopefully this week will be good."

He went on: "No doubt people will make a point of looking up my score, wondering what Lawrie shot today. And I can imagine them saying, `Oh, he's three over, what's going on with him?' I don't have any problem with that sort of thinking. It's up to me to make my life as normal as I possibly can."

So, there will be no second home in the Florida sunshine - "If I decide to play in the States I will commute from Aberdeen." He added: "I don't see myself playing in America full-time. Most of my tournaments will be in Europe, but I think I would find it exciting to go to different places and play different events."

And how does he see life changing for Craig? "I have no plans for my wife and family to travel to tournaments," he replied. "It's not a life for kids. It's more important that they are settled in school."

Which, of course, would provide further opportunities to bring the pals around and look, perhaps, at some new trophies.