News Digest

Irish golfer says return to Coke habit put the fizz back in his game

Irishman Peter Lawrie (pictured, right) is well known to European Tour fans, where the golfer became a staple of the circuit before inexplicably falling off the map two years ago. There are a lot of reasons a player can lose their game, but Lawrie’s reason is unique: he says he became addicted to soda. Speaking to Golf Weekly podcast, Lawrie said he was drinking litres of the stuff by the time he tried to quit. “Even in the hottest countries, like Malaysia, I would have Coke on the golf course, because I was addicted to it,” he told the Newstalk golf series. The 40-year-old cut Coke from his diet as part of a fitness push in 2013 – and it killed his career.

I went from such a high on sugar to a dramatic low, and I never recovered from it. I really didn’t. That was the one thing. I know this might shock people, but I lost all confidence in myself.

Peter Lawrie, speaking to the hosts of Golf Weekly podcast

After quitting soda, Lawrie dropped from 161st in the world two years ago to about 900th in the Official World Golf Ranking to start 2015. This year, Lawrie admitted defeat and resumed drinking soda, albeit in much smaller quantities than he did before cutting it cold turkey. Since resuming the habit, he’s made the cut in his last three starts – including a T-16 last week in Malaysia that was his best finish since the 2013 Irish Open, where he wound up T-10 just three weeks before cutting Coke.