Golf: The only Major winner on show fails to ignite the gallery

The wind was blowing and the name Paul Lawrie was creeping up the leaderboard. When he picked up his fourth birdie on the sixth to go eight under, there was a feeling that the Scot could be about to stage the kind of charge that saw him win the 1999 British Open at Carnoustie.

Gulf Harbour, such a meek and timid beastie on the first two days, bared its teeth yesterday with a stiff westerly determined to protect its honour.

As befitting a man who grew up on Scotland's northeast coast, Lawrie is renowned for his ability to play in the wind. He likes a bit of puff. Some of the more precious sorts get a bit sniffy when they have to fire into the teeth of a gale. Lawrie prefers it.

So the early morning crowds flocked to see the only major winner in the field. For Lawrie it must have seemed like the good old days, when spectators didn't actually nudge each other and ask: 'Who is that bloke?'

But it was all an illusion. The good old days of finding himself at the top of a leaderboard are a distant memory for the 36-year-old. His problem since winning one of the most dramatic Opens of all time has been his inability to eradicate the bad. He is so nearly there, it's just that he lapses enough to tarnish each round. The inevitable crash yesterday came at the ninth when a hooked drive left him a horrid lie in the thick, nasty stuff. With the adrenaline flowing he opted to try and hit the green.

His ball ended in the drink and any children watching Lawrie's reaction could have wondered why the angry man was using his club rather than a spade to try to dig his way to Australia. A superb recovery chip from 70m saw him walk away with bogey and an outward nine of 33.

An in-form Lawrie would have settled on the 10th.

An out-of-form Lawrie got worked up about the corporate clowns next to the tee who insisted on regaling each other at top volume about their Friday night antics.

He never really looked comfortable and pushed left off the tee, his bottom hand coming off the club to signal poor contact. Just to be consistent he pushed his approach and three-putted. His shout of "crap" as he walked off the green said it all.

A snap hook second on the 11th killed his chances of a birdie and - also any interest. The crowds thinned away, realising they were watching a man who was not at one with his game.

He needed to kick-start his round on 12 if he was to be a feature today. He was obviously thinking that way himself and got too cute with his approach. He needed to punch his nine iron just to the top of the elevated green and let nature do its work. He punched it but it was the sort of punch even most soccer players would be ashamed to throw and he ended up watching his ball trickle off the dance floor.

By the time he closed out for five he was back to five under, where he started.

"There are plenty of good things about my game," he said afterwards. "But there is a lot of rubbish, too. That has been the way for a while now, lots of positives but silly mistakes. I'm playing four rounds a lot, which is good. But you don't win any money when you keep coming 40th and 50th."

- Herald on Sunday