Law ties with Lawrie

• Law shoots seven under 66 to tie former Open champion
• Round includes nine birdies at Penina
• Event part of Paul Lawrie Foundation Pro Series

Northern Open champion David Law shot the tournament low score of seven-under-par 66 to tie with his host for first place at the Paul Lawrie Foundation Pro Series over the Henry Cotton Championship Course at Penina Hotel and Golf Resort, Portimao on the Algarve.

Law then thanked his fellow Aberdonian Lawrie for an "awesome week at Penina," the former Open champion having taken 18 Scottish pros away from the wind and the cold in Scotland for a competitive warm-up, literally, for the new season.

"I was lucky enough to play with Paul in two of the three rounds. A huge thanks to Paul and Michael MacDougall for all his hard work on the organisation side," said Law.

In warm weather over the three days on the Algarve - up in the 20s/70s with little or no wind, Law produced a blistering, nine-birdie final round of to close the seven-shot gap on Lawrie

Law birdied the first, second, third, fifth, seventh, 10th, 15th, 17th and 18th. His only bad hole was the 13th which cost him a three-putt double bogey.

His 54-hole aggregate of eight-under-par 211 matched that of Paul Lawrie who had rounds of 68, 70 and 73.

For the second day in a row, Lawrie had a seven on his card. In the third round it came at the 14th after his ball hit a tree and went out of bounds.

With a bus waiting to take the party to Faro Airport for the flight home, there was no time to fit in a play-off between Law and Lawrie.

Braid Hills pro Paul McKechnie shot the final day's second-best round of four-under 69 to finish third on four-under-par 215.

Dunbar's Neil Fenwick, lying second overnight, slumped to a closing 79 to drop to eighth place in the final standings. 

The top 10 received undisclosed prize money. Lawrie's son Craig and Kris Nicol finished joint ninth so earned some money.

"The event was a great chance to get together, play in a competitive environment just prior to the season getting underway and to work on their games with the benefit of advice from  some experienced campaigners," said Michael MacDougall, the former Scottish PGA secretary who is now manager of the Paul Lawrie Foundation.