Friday 14 November 2014 14:45, UK
A new tournament - the Saltire Energy Paul Lawrie Match Play - will be launched on the European Tour next year.
The inaugural event will take place at Murcar Links Golf Club, on the outskirts of Lawrie’s native Aberdeen, from July 30- August 2, 2015 and will be part of The Race to Dubai for the next three years.
With a prize fund of 1 million Euro, it will pit 64 of the leading players on The Race to Dubai against each other in a straight knockout, matchplay contest.
A stalwart of The European Tour over the past 23 seasons, a two-time Ryder Cup player and Scotland’s most recent major champion, Lawrie will be the tournament host, with his management company, 4 Sports & Entertainment, promoting the event, and Saltire Energy, one of his own sponsors, as the title sponsor.
Lawrie said: ‘I'm delighted to be announcing this new tournament and it's fantastic to be bringing another European Tour event to my home town of Aberdeen. Match play is a format that we don't get to play too often out on Tour, and so it's an exciting opportunity for an elite knockout tournament to come to Scotland.
“I'm extremely grateful to Mike Loggie of Saltire Energy for sharing my vision with this and for coming on board as the event's title sponsor, as without the backing of such sponsors, none of this would be possible.
George O’Grady, Chief Executive of The European Tour, said: “Paul Lawrie has been a strong and loyal supporter of The European Tour over the past three decades, as well as one of our finest players and ambassadors.
"We are therefore delighted that he is putting something back into the game at the highest level of European golf with this new match play event, on top of the commendable work he does at grassroots through the work of the Paul Lawrie Foundation.
“The Ryder Cup in Scotland was a huge success and demonstrated the appetite that Scottish golf fans have for match play golf, so we must thank Paul, along with Saltire Energy and 4Sports for helping this tournament to become part of The European Tour International Schedule.”
Lawrie has close connections with Murcar Links Golf Club through his Foundation. The links course, which was established in 1909, hosted the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre Northern Open earlier this year and the Paul Lawrie Foundation Scottish Boys Championship in 2012. It also hosted the inaugural Scottish Challenge on the European Challenge Tour in 2006.
