Derek Lawrenson for the Daily Mail's recent articles

WORLD OF GOLF - DEREK LAWRENSON: Harvey Firestone designed the country club in Akron, Ohio that carries his name as a playground perk for workers at his tyre company — but it’s the world’s leading golfers who have come to look upon the Firestone Country Club as the ultimate bonus. Over the last 65 years, it has hosted any number of elite field events, including the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational since 1999.  It’s the venue where Jack Nicklaus won seven times and Tiger Woods eight, a site where Tom Watson, Lee Trevino, Greg Norman and plenty more Hall of Fame members enjoyed a career highlight; where Jose-Maria Olazabal played the finest round of his life on his way to victory in 1990 and Rory McIlroy delivered in his golden summer of 2014. ...read

DEREK LAWRENSON - WORLD OF GOLF: Question anyone with a vested interest on the lamentable state of Scottish golf, and it produces one of those arm-wringing, sofa-squirming responses that make you feel sorry you asked. It was at the Scottish Open last year that the nation that gave the sport to the world suffered another wretched indignity, when Richie Ramsay proved the best-placed finisher in a less than headline-making 35th place. Earlier this season, we had the pathetic case of not a single Scot in the world’s top 100, combined with the jaw-dropping fact that not a single player from Scotland to emerge in the last decade had progressed even to the point of retaining his European Tour card. ...read