February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
Lawrie, who achieved a mastery over Laguna’s front nine over the final two rounds, tied for fifth place at 8-under-par 280 (74-72-68-66). That was 10 strokes off Dougherty’s winning number.
Lawrie, who carded only two birdies over each of the first two rounds, knocked out five over the front nine both Saturday and Sunday. That included an eagle-2 on the par-4 third hole Sunday. The back nine remained a puzzle to him, however. He managed to beat par on only four of the 36 back nine frames, and three of those came on the par-5 15th.
Graeme McDowell tied for 18th place at 284 (74-69-69-72). He adhered to par pretty much throughout the tournament, save for a six-hole stretch on Saturday, where he picked up five birdies.
The heat and humidity got the better of many visitors from the Northern Hemisphere. Count among those Gary Murphy, whose 149 (70-79), and Damien McGrane, whose 151 (78-73) caused them to miss the cut, which was set at 146.