Paul Lawrie has pulled out of his Andalucian Open title defence this week because of illness and it could leave him sweating on a place in next month’s US Masters at Augusta.
The Aberdeen golfer is currently 45th in the world and at the end of next week the top 50 earn invitations to the opening major of the year.
Lawrie, who has not played at The Masters since 2004, almost withdrew from last week’s Cadillac Championship in Miami.
He said “I haven’t been feeling too well this week, and I was up coughing most of the night.
“I was going to pull out until I found out you have to complete four rounds for the money to count on the Order of Merit and Ryder Cup points, so I decided to cough and splutter my way round, eventually shooting 77.”
It dropped him to joint 60th in the 74-man field and meant he did not pick up any world ranking points in any case.
Lawrie won the Qatar Masters last month and is currently fifth in the race for places in Jose Maria Olazabal’s Ryder Cup side.
He last played in the match in 1999 – the year he won the Open Championship, of course, from an amazing 10 strokes behind with a round to play.
Olazabal, meanwhile, has also withdrawn from this week’s event at Aloha near Marbella. Plagued by rheumatic pains for the best part of two decades, he has a foot injury.
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