While Scotland's Paul Lawrie was making his dreams come true in 1999, Dubliner Peter Lawrie was living out the nightmareside of the pro game.

The journeyman from Aberdeen clinched the Open at Carnoustie andset himself up for life, but Dubliner Peter was just back from yet another exhausting trip to the Asian Tour, desperatelyseeking his golfing dream on the Old Continent once again.

Aftersplitting his year between Asia and Europe, making trips home to compete on the Challenge Tour and the big European Tour events in Ireland, Lawrie was no nearer his dream of clinching his dream ticket c a full European Tour card.

Now, nearly two years down the road, the Dubliner is locked in a desperare battle with time.

Three times a non-qualifier at the Tourschool, the clock is ticking for the 27 year-old who gave himself just five years to make it when he turned professional in 1997.

Like the rest of the Challenge Tour brigade, Lawrie doesn t hold any loftier ambitions for the moment other than the right to play with the big boys on the European Tour.

Apart from the rewards for golfingsuccess, it would also give him the chance to renew acquaintances with old buddies from his amateur days like Padraig Harrington and David Higgins, and bring back memories of when life wassimple and bad round didn t mean asleepless night.

A Tour Card is all that most of the players on the Challenge Tour are aiming for,” he told me this week.

The Challenge Tour itself is a loss making exercise unless you re winning tournaments regularly,so the idea is to get one of the top 15 cards and get on the main tour.

Its not about money, its about getting to where you think you belong.”

Determined and intelligent, Lawrie also has enough commonsense to know when to give up. But that time hasn t come just yet.

A university graduate with a Bachelor of Commerce (B.Comm) degree from University College Dublin (UCD) Lawries business brain told him to give himself just five years to make it in the pro game.

I looked at it as a businessstart-up,” he explains. 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 trysomething else.

Its been my dream to be a professional golfersince I was a little kid but you have to look at things in a realistic light and I reckoned that afer five years I would have given it my all.”

But with expenses of £800 a week and winnings of just £7,500 in Europe lastseason, the numbers are not adding up for the man from Dublins Newlands club.

And while Harrington has won over £3 millionsince he burst onto thescene in 1996, Lawrie is not in the least bit envious of his former Ireland team mate.

Its inspring tosee how incredibly well Padraig has done. He won in his eighth event on tour and that breakthrough gave him the confidence to go out and do what he has donesince, which is incredible,” admits Lawrie.

Although he has received a £20,000 cash injection from the government and othersmallsponsorship deals, Lawrie is going to have to use all his business acumen to keep on top of the figures this season.

I plan to play a very fullschedule but I m not going tostay out like I did last year when I played rubbish golf trying to fix things,” he reveals.

Working with UCDsports psycologist Aidan Moran, Lawrie is much more focused on what he has to do to put four good rounds together thisseason.

I was getting too far ahead of myself,sometimes five orsix holes ahead. But now I m just trying to concentrate on theshot in hand and take things from there,” hesays

Hitting the ballstraighter than ever thanks to intensive work with Rathsallagh teaching professional Brendan McDaid, Lawrie is also fitter and stronger than he has ever been in his career.

And for a man who once had had get three taxis to take him fromsingapore to Malaysia, Lawrie is not afraid to go out of his way to achieve his ambitions.

A winter stint on thesunshine Tour insouth Africa earlier this year helped the former Irish Close Champion to hone his game for the most importantseason of his career.

I hadseven great weeks down there, finished in the top twenty in thesouth African Masters and did well enough to make it profitable”, hesays.

So is he really going to jack it in a years time if things don t come right?

We'll have to wait andsee,” hesays with a grin. I‘m just trying to live in the present, take it oneshot at a time and let the clubs do the talking.”

Smoothsmyth

Super veteran Dessmyth is tops again. But this time its only for his bunker play.

According to the European Tour, deadly Des is number one at getting up and down fromsand for par.

So far this term he has an incredible 100 per centsuccess rate in the sandsaves category.

The Drogheda man, 48, always was asmooth operator around the greens.

Ireland v MGA

Ireland will bid for a hat trick of wins over the Metropolotian Golf Association of New York at Portmarnock from May 8-9.

The boys in green beat the top New Yorkers at Portmarnock Links in 1998 thensurvived thespeedy greens of Maidstone, East Hampton to make it two in a row in New York in 1999.

This time aroundstephen Browne, Gary Cullen, John Foster, Noel Fox, Andrew McCormick, Michael McDermott, Adrian Morrow and Tim Rice have been called up for duty.

Powerscourt

If you get to Powerscourt for the AIB Irish Senior Open from May 11-13, check out the view from the 12th tee.

Movie buffs will remember the spectacular landscape as the location for the famous battlescene in Laurence Oliviers 1945 version of Henry V.

With its tricky, two-tiered green, the veterans will have to be arrow straight here too.

Amateur Open invasion!

Watch out Noel Fox. A host of International hotshots are bidding for your Irish Amateur Open title from Mary 11-13.

The field for the Ulster Bank sponsored event includes 63 overseas players from 12 countries.

And with an upper handicap limit of 0.9, it looks as if competition will be tough.

Whilesergio Garica had an incredible handicap of plus 5.6 when he turned pro in 1999, almost half the field for Royal Dublin has a handicap of between plus four and plus one.

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© Brian Keogh 2000

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