A MASKED gang has raided Ryder Cup hero Paul Lawrie’s north-east golf shop.
Three men smashed their way into the centre and took just three minutes to pile £30,000 of stock into their waiting car before fleeing.
It is the third golf shop to be targeted in a month, with nearly £100,000 of golf clubs and high-end clothing stolen from Fraserburgh, Murcar, on the outskirts of Aberdeen, and now Banchory-Devenick.
Staff at a fourth facility, at Culter, have also upped their security after becoming suspicious of two men they believe were “casing” the premises two weeks ago.
However, police were unable to say last night whether they believed the incidents were linked.
The latest heist, at the Paul Lawrie Golf Centre in Banchory-Devenick, happened about 1am on Saturday and it is believed the thieves used a silver Audi A4 with stolen local plates to make their getaway.
CCTV cameras captured the incident, which Robbie Stewart, director of golf at the centre, said lasted only minutes.
He said: “They burst the padlock and chain at the top gates of the drive and gained entry. They broke a lower panel of glass in the door and crawled through that into the shop.
“We can see the car coming in and parking as close to the shop as possible, and then they just filled the boot and back. They absolutely knew what they were going for.”
The culprits made off with about £30,000 of TaylorMade golf clubs and clothing from the Paul Lawrie Collection and Galvin Green.
Mr Stewart – a long-time friend of Mr Lawrie – said he was certain the thieves’ precision meant they had been in the shop before and that he was “sickened” that staff would have welcomed them in and tried to help while they were working out what to steal.
He said: “They must have been in the shop a few days before, so we’ll have spoken to them and welcomed them to the shop while they were scheming on how to pull one over on us.
“I’ve no doubt that these guys will have been in before, and that’s absolutely sickening.”
Mr Stewart said Mr Lawrie – who played in the final round of the BMW Masters in China yesterday – was as upset as the rest of the team.
He added: “Paul bought the centre a year-and-a-half ago. We’ve invested heavily to provide Aberdeen with a great golfing facility and these people have come along with a total disregard for what we’re trying to do and robbed us.
“We will have a discussion about what we can do to prevent his happening again.”
Last Thursday, thieves also targeted the Murcar Golf Club at Bridge of Don between 2.30am and 2.50am. The bay window of the club was smashed and up to £10,000 of equipment and Galvin Green clothing was stolen.
And last month, thieves sabotaged CCTV cameras and motion sensors before raiding Dunes Golf Driving Range at Fraserburgh.
It is believed they made off with about £50,000 worth of clothes and equipment from a storeroom at the Harbour Road business.
However, the culprits may have been caught on camera at another club – nearly 50 miles away – where staff are now urging others to be on their guard.
Ross McConnachie, assistant professional at Peterculter Golf Club, said they raised the alarm with the police after hearing about the break-in at Murcar. He said his boss had been working when two men, who were “out of character”, with Liverpool accents, went into the shop about a fortnight ago. “One of them was booking a tee-off time and the other was looking around the shop at the Galvin Green gear,” he said.
“We had CCTV and caught them on that.
“These guys are obviously going around the shops before they break into them. It might be the case that another golf club that has not been broken into has CCTV and has seen them, or remembers them now. We’re being extra vigilant and hiding our stock.”