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SALTIRE ENERGY PAUL LAWRIE MATCH PLAYAugust 2, 2015Paul LawrieAberdeen, Scotland Q. General thoughts on how the whole thing started. PAUL LAWRIE: I think it's been absolutely magnificent to be fair. I don't think you could have asked for any more. 4Sports and Entertainment have promoted it for me and I think they have just done a wonderful job with everything. They have got everything right. It's their first real go at promoting a huge event. They have obviously got The European Open coming up, too, later in the year. Mike Loggie at Saltire Energy is thrilled with how it's gone, as you can imagine. He's been here every day, and he's really enjoyed it, which is obviously the most important thing when your main guy is happy with how it's going. The feedback from the players has been brilliant. They have all loved the course. The condition of the course has been out of the world. Some of the boys, some of the best greens they have putted on, certainly this year. When you get comments like that and when you get the weather like today, it's going to be magnificent. Q. Two years; is it a three-year? PAUL LAWRIE: There's a three-year contracts in place with The European Tour and Mike at Saltire Energy. Q. Will it be here? PAUL LAWRIE: Not necessarily here. No, we haven't decided as of yet. We'll make a decision on that. Q. Would you like to keep it in Aberdeen or anywhere in Scotland? PAUL LAWRIE: There's nothing been decided yet where it's going to be at all. Obviously we are going to have a sit down with 4Sport after the week and let it kind of settle, let the dust go down and then we'll decide where we go from there. Q. Is that one that could be -- PAUL LAWRIE: Again, there's talks ongoing I think with the schedule and where it's going to be. I don't think that's a hundred percent set in stone as of yet. But again, get them out as soon as we can. Q. I think you mentioned before, the two invites, you might look at having four. Is that right? PAUL LAWRIE: Well, I think the way it's worked out, it would have been nice to have had a couple more. A few players kind of missed out that we would have liked to have seen in the field. But we understand the Tour with a short field, that we are reluctant to give out too many. But I think going forward, I think they will understand that we need at least sort of one or two more. Four would be a right number. I THINK would be a perfect number; change field if we had to by bringing in one or two field. Q. The 15 pound admission is a fantastic offer for people. What's your thoughts on the crowd generally? PAUL LAWRIE: It's nice to see people. Would have been nice to see a few more. I think we are not, I wouldn't have said disappointed, but we thought there would be more come. The discussion with Mike was very clear. He was keen on keeping it kind of keeping the price down to let people enjoy it. We thought there would be more. Why there isn't more, I don't know. We kind of need to obviously look at that and see why people have not came. I personally don't think it's expensive to come along and watch European golfers for a whole day's golf, so it can't be the price. But it's not a huge -- it's not something that I certainly don't want to go down the road of complaining because that's just the wrong way of going about it. We are happy to see the ones that have came. They have all enjoyed it. The feedback has been great from the spectators and would have been nice to see a few more. Q. In terms of players for next year, does it matter you might not get somebody like Rory; does that kind of thing matter or are you happy with the standard of good quality European Tour players? PAUL LAWRIE: We are delighted with the field. I think the field was really strong to be fair. We certainly had Scotland's top ranked golfer in Marc Warren in the World Rankings. John Daly is a two-time Major winner and we had five or six winners from this year. So for a first-year start with a million Euro prize fund, the field has been phenomenal. All the boys enjoyed it. The feedback has been great and they have all thanked us all for putting it on. Q. Does the event match your expectations? PAUL LAWRIE: I think in a way, it's kind of gone over a little bit of what I was expecting, and that's due to the job obviously that 4Sport have done. They have put on a hell of a show to be fair. And Mike said that this morning; it was a little more than he was expecting. He had obviously never sponsored a main event before. He maybe was expecting it to be a little smaller, but all things have been absolutely magnificent from my point of view and his. Q. In terms of the venue, would it be difficult to take away from here, given how much the players enjoyed it? Would that be a factor? PAUL LAWRIE: I understand the feedback's been great from them. But I think the format and the tournament that we laid on is as much to do with it as Murcar. Even though Murcar has done a fantastic job and the course has been in great condition, I think the whole way that 4Sport has gone about it is the main reason that everyone's loved it. I think the match play knockout format has gone down a treat. I think it's just a little different and it's just the right time in the schedule, right in the middle of the season where you've had stroke play after stroke play and then, all right, if I don't play well today, I'm going home. I think players have really, really enjoyed that. I think the format has added to it personally. Q. A lot of players have been saying, it's refreshing. David Howell, for example, said he's played in the odd Accenture and maybe Wentworth, but a lot of the players might not have played a lot. PAUL LAWRIE: Absolutely. My match against Chris Doak, I think I would have shot 3-under the first day and I was a couple over against Chris. So a good weekend and you've still got a chance. But you're out. And I think that's the beauty of it. If you get it wrong a little bit in the middle of your match, man, you're going home. And I think the players have absolutely loved that idea. Q. And you've accepted that; to go home without getting anything. PAUL LAWRIE: Absolutely. It's better this week than normally if you play poorly because you only play one round and go home. You play two rounds and go home. I think we've done them a favor; it's cheaper for them, isn't it. (Laughing). No, we've had no negative feedback about first round losers not receiving prize money at all, and if they did, I would have said that to them. You normally play two rounds and get nothing. Q. You must have enjoyed the finish between Marc Warren's match yesterday -- PAUL LAWRIE: Brilliant. Little bits and pieces like that makes it all worthwhile. You've got a Scottish guy, he's 2-up with three to play, he's kind of not giving away, but his opponent's done well and boom, you've got 50-odd yards and it's in and you're through to the semifinal. Phenomenal. Great shot, once bounce, straight in. So things like that just make the week. Q. When do you think you will make a decision regarding next year or the following year in terms of date or venue? PAUL LAWRIE: Not sure at the minute. It's not just my decision. Obviously there's a few people involved in it, so we need to kind of get all together. Everyone's busy. Obviously Mike's a busy boy. 4Sport is busy. I've got a few things on. But hopefully shortly we'll kind of be able to let everyone know what we are doing. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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