Dubliner Peter Lawrie put his Spanish Open play-off defeat behind him and roared: The best is yet to come.

Lawrie pocketed a cool ¤151,995 for joint second place with Sweden's Peter Hedblom after England's Kenneth Ferrie took the title in Tenerife with a birdie at the second sudden death play-off hole.

But Lawrie, 29, has now earned enough this season to be sure of retaining his card in the top flight for next year.

His closing 66, which included an eagle three at the last, catapulted him from obscurity to to 24th place in the Volvo Order of Merit.

With ¤189,417 in the bank after 12 events he sits proudly amongst the superstars - one place ahead of English starlet Justin Rose.

But the Irishman is not resting on his laurels despite a dream final round in partnership with Jose Maria Olazábal on Sunday.

He said: "I'm disappointed to lose the play-off, of course, but also very pleased to make eagle at the last and to get there in the first place.

"My goal this season was to win ¤200,000 to secure my card so effectively I've already reached my first goal and that means the pressure is off. This is my first chance on the full Tour and once the season starts you're very concerned about keeping your card.

"There's a lot of anxiety about that but now it's not going to be a major worry every week. You saw last year on the Challenge Tour when I had secured my card how well I played and I hope it's going to be the same from now on."

Lawrie missed the cut in four of his first five tournaments on the Challenge Tour last year but then notched six top ten finishes and won the season ending Challenge Tour Grand Final to take fourth place in the money list and earn a full European Tour card.

It was a similar story this term. After making three modest cheques in a row in the early season events in Asia, Hong Kong and South Africa he then missed the cut in Singapore, Australia and New Zealand before bouncing back in Dubai and Qatar.

But the pressure was back on straight away after missing the cut in Madeira and Portugal recently.

Struggling with his driving he went to Tenerife with the aim of making the cut and achieved more than he imagined.

Needing an eagle at the par five 72nd hole to take the clubhouse lead on 22 under par, he smashed a 340-yard drive followed by a 183-yard seven iron to four feet and holed the putt.

And although Ferrie and Hedblom had chances to take outright victory at the 18th they could only match Lawrie's total and a sudden death play-off followed on the same hole.

All three made birdie the first time around but on the second trip only Ferrie could make four as Lawrie and Hedblom failed to get up and down after missing the green.

Lawrie three putted from the back fringe after his 200 yard approach had taken a flier from the light rough.

"I had 200 yards and hit seven-iron, never thinking I could go to the back of the green," he said.

Despite getting his ball to six feet his birdie putt missed right and Ferrie was the champion.

"I'm not too disappointed. This was my first breakthrough," he said. "As it happens I had planned a week off this week, so I can take a break and then my next tournament is the Benson and Hedges at The Belfry."

Lawrie's career has been trundling along slowly since he gave himself just five years to make the grade when he turned professional, after a top class amateur career, in 1998.

He played in Asia and South Africa and on mini tours in the US before settling on the European Challenge Tour.

A university graduate with a Bachelor of Commerce (B.Comm) degree from University College Dublin (UCD) Lawrie's business brain told him not to waste too much time on golf.

"I looked at it as a business start-up," he explained. "I figured that if after five years you weren't making any money and you were just going to be another run of the mill operator then it would be better to move on and try something else.

"It's been my dream to be a professional golfer since I was a little kid but you have to look at things in a realistic light and I reckoned that after five years I would have given it my all."

It wasn't looking good for the Dubliner as he earned ¤ 7,745 in 1999, ¤ 9,097 in 2000 and ¤20,470 in 2001 before catching fire last year.

Hard work with coach Brendan McDaid helped him with his long game and he never looked back.

"I'm looking ahead now," he said. "Hopefully this is just the start for me and I can now set new goals and build from here."

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© Brian Keogh 2003

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