Lawrie was born in Dublin and educated at University College Dublin where he took up a golf scholarship. He won the 1996 Irish Amateur Closed Championship and turned professional in 1997. It took him several years to win a place on the European Tour, but a fourth place finish on the Challenge Tour Rankings in 2002, including victory in the Challenge Tour Grand Final, earned him a European Tour card, which Lawrie credits much of to the help of swing coach, Brendan McDaid. He had a solid début season at the higher level in 2003 and became the first Irishman to be named the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year. He has consistently finished in the top 100 of the Order of Merit since, with a best position of 36th in 2010.
Lawrie achieved a breakthrough in 2008 when he won his first title on the European Tour at the Open de España, where he defeated Ignacio Garrido in a playoff
Drysdale was born in Edinburgh. He turned professional in 1995. Drysdale currently competes on the European Tour, having graduated through qualifying school for the fourth time at the end of 2008. He had previously qualified for the elite tour in 2001, 2006 and 2007 through q-school, in addition to graduating directly from the Challenge Tour in 2004, when he finished 12th on the end of season rankings, largely thanks to a sudden death playoff victory over Mattias Eliasson at the Bouygues Telecom Grand Final.
Prior to 2009, Drysdale's best finish on the European Tour had been as runner-up at the 2006 Russian Open. In March 2009, he equalled that when he finished second in the Open de Andalucia. That result in Spain followed a third place in the Joburg Open earlier in the season, allowed Drysdale to qualify for the season ending Dubai World Championship.
He finished the season inside the top 50 on the Race to Dubai, to comfortably retain his card for the 2010 season.
In October 2009, he briefly became the highest ranked Scottish golfer in the Official World Golf Rankings.
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