Lawrie looking to raise the bar

Tour news:  Peter Lawrie didn't much like sitting at home watching the British Open on television. He's a player who aspires to much more than sitting on a living-room couch as the big stage is left to others, so it is with an extra degree of determination he rejoins the European Tour this week for the Deutsche Bank TPC of Europe in Hamburg.

"I was disappointed not to come through qualifying for Hoylake. It seemed to be a course where you needed strategy, and that is an important part of my game. I like where you have to be creative."

Although his one and only appearance in a major came in last year's Open at St Andrews, when he missed the cut, the 32-year-old Dubliner - who has taken up an offer from Padraig Harrington to travel to Germany on a chartered jet - is looking to raise the bar and, to that end, has finally decided to work with a sports psychologist when on the road.

Lawrie has teamed up with John Pates, who works with Paul Broadhurst, whose recent resurgence in form has brought him into contention for a place on the Ryder Cup team, and Bradley Dredge.

"The quality of golf on tour these days is just so high that you have to give yourself every chance," said Lawrie, who was frustrated to miss the cut at the recent European and Scottish Opens.

"Missing the cut at The K Club was a real kick in the teeth to me," said Lawrie, "it really did my head in because I'd actually played really good golf there. I know the swing is there and that the game is there. I'm looking forward to Hamburg because it is a course where I've done well before and Padraig's offer of a lift over takes a lot of the hassle out of travelling. It means you can go there, relax, play a practice round and get your preparations right."

Lawrie is part of an extremely strong Irish contingent destined for Hamburg this week, where the top prize is €600,000. Harrington, Paul McGinley, Graeme McDowell, Damien McGrane, Gary Murphy, Michael Hoey, David Higgins and Stephen Browne are all in the field for Gut Kaden.

Of the nine players, only three (Harrington, McGinley and McDowell) played at Hoylake, where only McDowell survived into the weekend.

McDowell, who went from sole first-round leader to eventually finish in 61st position, had a horrible time with the putter throughout the championship and left Merseyside with the intention to put a lot of work into his putting this week before playing in the Deutsche Bank.

McDowell is definitely taking a week off next week, so is not playing in the Scandinavian Masters, but is considering playing the following week's International tournament in Denver (he is in danger of losing his US tour card) ahead of the following week's US PGA at Medinah in Chicago.

Harrington and McGinley have identical schedules in the coming weeks, the pair taking a two-week break after Hamburg before a run that takes in the US PGA, the Bridgestone Invitational in Akron and the BMW International in Munich, which concludes the European qualifying campaign for September's Ryder Cup match at The K Club.

As things stand, both Harrington and McGinley have automatic spots but, with five weeks of qualifying remaining, it will be a case of chasing points right to the end in Munich.