MARTIN Laird, the first Scot to play full time in America for 20 years, has taken a giant step towards retaining his playing privileges on the US PGA Tour for next season by earning $627,901 in his last six events and making the biggest leap of any golfer in the play-offs for the FedEx Cup as well as surging up the world rankings.
This sparkling run of form has worked wonders for the player's confidence as he competes at the highest level. "I think I belong now, " the Glaswegian said yesterday, "whereas two months ago, I didn't."
Laird, 25, has jumped from 128th in the FedE
x standings to 67th thanks to finishing in a share of seventh at the Barclays won by Vijay Singh at Ridgewood, New Jersey, on Sunday. The rookie's hot streak means he's secured a place among the top 120 eligible for the $7 million Deutsche Bank championship, which starts on Thursday. That said, the Scot's native sense of caution prevented him from making a hotel reservation for this week's event in Boston until the last day of the Barclays.
If he keeps up the good work in Massachussetts, Laird is also in contention to join the 70 golfers who can compete in the BMW next week. "I'm just trying to treat them all as normal tournaments," he reasoned. "Because, as of a month ago, I wasn't close to getting in. So it's all bonus for me now. I'm playing good and trying to focus on that."
With total earnings for the season of $693,800, Laird has won the bulk of that prize- money over the past three weeks – banking $118,500 for a share of fourth at the Renoe-Tahoe Open, $224,400 last week for fourth at the Wyndham and $203,700 on Sunday for another top ten at the Barclays.
After Alastair Forsyth, 86th, and Colin Montgomerie, 91st, Laird is now the third highest placed Scot in the world rankings. His finish at the Barclays moved the golfer up from 266th to 201st yesterday, a leap of 65 places.
Since he was 29th at the John Deere Classic in mid-July, Laird has transformed his season by earning $627,901 in just seven weeks. This rich seam of form was in stark contrast with a challenging start to life on golf's richest tour when he missed eight cuts in his first 14 events and never finished higher than 55th in six months of competition between January and June.
Laird's season turned around at the John Deere after his swing coach, Steve Dahlby of the Golf Club of Scottsdale, got him back on track. "We found out what had been causing all of my problems," he revealed.
An impressive 48 under par for his last six tournaments, Laird played smart golf at the Barclays and catapulted himself into the top ten thanks to a closing round of 67 (which included four birdies on the back nine) to card the six under par total of 278, just two strokes shy of the winning mark. It was the third consecutive event where the Scot made a positive move on the last day. He also signed off with 66 at the Renoe-Tahoe and 63 at the Wyndham.
Now 117th on the US money list – the top 125 players keep their cards, with Sweden's Matthias Gronberg earning more than $785,000 in the last automatic spot in 2007 – Laird is reaping the benefit from a combination of solid driving and effective putting. Averaging more than 296 yards in distance off the tee, Laird is ranked 16th in total driving. His putting average of 1.765 strokes per hole is rated 24th. Given the company he's keeping, these are impressive statistics.
As to the turnaround in fortune, the Scot recalled how in June he'd lost all confidence. "I had no idea where the ball was going," he admitted.
"I had no idea where I was going. I was wondering what I was doing out here. You get a little confidence and I've gone from showing up at tournaments and not thinking I could compete to turning up every week now and thinking if I play well I could win."
Unlike many gifted young Scots who struggle to meet expectations when they turn professional, Laird has made his own way in the game, choosing to make his home in Arizona after attending college at Colorado. A Scottish international, the highlight of Laird's amateur career was winning the Scottish Youths Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship at Letham Grange in 2003
"It's been in his favour up until now that Martin was able to come under the radar in Scotland and the UK," observed Rocky Hambric, who manages the player. "I've a bit of experience of watching players develop and Martin hasn't been forced to deal with a lot of high expectations. Anything he's achieved, he's done for himself. No-one here knew anything about Martin. He's had to go and earn it."
The full article contains 845 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
