A change of putter and plenty of local knowledge propelled Paul Lawrie to a two-shot lead at the halfway stage of the Staysure PGA Seniors Championship at Trump International Links.
The 1999 Open champion equalled the tournament course record with a six-under-par 66 to move to eight-under and two clear of nearest challenger Robert Coles.
Lawrie’s round, which included seven birdies and a solitary bogey, matched the course record of 66 posted by Peter Baker and Simon Khan in the same event last year.
The Aberdonian said: “I holed out well.
“I changed putters from the first round. I putted pretty poorly on Thursday.
“I felt I played better than two-under so I went with a different putter – an Odyssey two ball – and rolled it lovely.
“I have a couple of putters I chop and change.
“If one doesn’t work I go back to the other.”
Lawrie is a member at this week’s host venue and his time spent at the course was put to good use as he moved into the driving seat of the Legends Tour’s flagship event.
He said: “I’m here most days when I’m home.
“I come here in the morning, hit a few balls, play nine holes and then I go back to the golf centre where my office is and I work in the afternoon if I’m not playing.
“It is a great place. The staff are amazing.
“They look after you and I enjoy coming here.
“I don’t keep score. I seldom play all 18. I grab a buggy, hit 20 balls and then play nine holes and go back to the office.”
The two-time European Ryder Cup player only intends to play eight tournaments this year but believes he has found a greater balance to life now he combines a more limited schedule with his work running his golf centre, his management company Five Star Sports Agency and heading up the Tartan Pro Tour.
He said: “I enjoy playing more now as I’m only playing six to eight tournaments a year.
“Golf is a great job and I loved it for a long time but I enjoy my life more now.
“I enjoy the Five Star bit looking after the players and the Tartan Pro Tour is going really well.
“My job is to bring in the money for all these things, for the players, in sponsorship.
“I am on LinkedIn until 12 o’clock every night trying to get people on board to get money in.
“I enjoy that more than playing full-time. I couldn’t go back to that.”
He said: “I played nicely. You have got to play nice to shoot that.
“It wasn’t easy out there. The first four or five holes weren’t too bad and then the wind picked up before we got to the turn.
“If you are teeing up your job and goal is to win.
“We will see what happens over the weekend but I feel good.
“That is the goal.”
Coles in contention
His nearest challenger Coles played in the tougher afternoon conditions, teeing off around the same time Lawrie finished.
Back-to-back rounds of 69 have the Englishman right in the mix heading into the weekend but the 51-year-old expects it to be a tough task to overtake home favourite Lawrie.
He joked: “Paul sets a standard far higher than mine!
“My standard is not quite his standard.
“Six-under is a phenomenal score.
“If you played here in flat-calm conditions and shot 66 you would be amazed.
“That’s a brilliant score.
“But I was delighted with the day.
“Any time you break par on a day like today you are pleased.
“It got a little bit scrappy at the end which was a shame.
“At any links course you always expect it to be worse in the afternoon.
“I thought if I could break par in the afternoon I wouldn’t be too far away.
“To shoot three under was great.”
No further action following investigation
There was some controversy in the group immediately behind Lawrie with American John Daly refusing to sign the card of his playing partner Michael Campbell, the 2005 US Open champion.
It followed a disagreement over the way Campbell was allegedly marking his ball on the green and led to a heated exchange outside the scorer’s hut.
Campbell denied any wrongdoing and, almost five hours after the players had completed their rounds, the Legends Tour said the matter was “fully investigated” and concluded there would be “no further action” with both players’ scores standing.
Campbell is tied fifth on two-under after rounds of 69 and 73, while Daly missed the cut after finishing 11-over after rounds of 79 and 76.
Tournament host Colin Montgomerie safely progressed to the weekend after rounds of 71 and 73 to finish level par.
Aberdeen’s Scott Henderson, who was tied for the lead after day one, dropped back tied ninth on level par after following up his opening round of 68 with a 76.
