Douglas Lowe on Tuesday: Martin Laird admitted to feeling nervous at making his return at the weekend to the Hilton Park club where he was junior captain and champion what seems like a lifetime ago.

Martin Laird admitted to feeling nervous at making his return at the weekend to the Hilton Park club where he was junior captain and champion what seems like a lifetime ago.

It was actually only just over eight years since the then plus-one handicapper left the club just outside Milngavie to start his big adventure on a golf scholarship at Colorado State University, and here he was back at base to be awarded an honorary membership in recognition of his exploits on the world's foremost circuit, the PGA Tour.

"It was good to see all the familiar faces again. I used to spend every spare minute I had here. I was still a junior when I left and I felt nervous because I haven't been here for so long," said the 6ft 3in player who knows all about nerves.

In the final event of this year's tour at Lake Buena Vista in Florida, Laird, the first Scot to play regularly on the PGA Tour since Sandy Lyle two decades ago, needed to steel himself over the closing holes and ultimately sink an eight-foot putt to keep his card in the 125th, and last, place.

"I may have looked calm but I definitely wasn't," he recalled.

"It was probably the least enjoyable five or six holes I have played.

I knew exactly what I had to do and it was a different kind of nervousness from being in contention and playing well.

I just had to get to the clubhouse without making any mistakes."

The Scot, who will be 26 on Monday, is friendly with American Kevin Stadler, son of Ryder Cup player Craig, who was in almost exactly the same position the year before and said it was the most nervous he had ever been on the course.

"I know now what he's talking about," said Laird, who earned his card this year through the secondary Nationwide Tour.

"The difference between making that putt and missing it was huge. Unless you know all the categories and entry qualifications and all the other things that come with being a full-time tour member, you can't express how big it was.

"It's not the end of the world if you're 126th on the money list. You'd probably still get 18 or 19 events, but they are the smaller tournaments. The biggest thing for me is that I can schedule. Last year I never knew when I was going to play and I never got a run going until the end of the year.

"This year I get into everything except the invitationals like the Memorial and Bay Hill. I get into the Players Championship, which is the biggest purse of the year, and I'll get to play at Riviera the Northern Trust Open in Los Angeles where I've never played. A lot of guys say that's the No.1 course to play all year."

Laird, who is home in Scotland for Christmas with parents Charles and Anne at Upper Largo, Fife, and has been joined by American girlfriend Meagan, who will travel with him next season, assessed his rookie year on the PGA Tour as a harsh reality check.

"I'm not saying I was over-confident going in but I thought it would be a little easier than it turned out to be to finish top 125," he said. "It might not sound hard but when I got there I saw there were 150 really good players teeing it up every week and it wasn't easy to beat them."

It remains his priority to establish himself in the US, but he does hope eventually to combine the PGA Tour with the European Tour in the same way as Ryder Cup players Luke Donald and Paul Casey, although he recognises he would have to rise from his current world mark of No.267 into the elite top 50 so that he can play in world golf events and major championships, which count towards minimum playing requirements of both tours.

In the meantime, he is planning to join the European Tour as an associate member so that he is eligible for the Ryder Cup in Wales in 2010 should he continue to improve at the current rate.

The Scottish Youths champion of five years ago also hopes to make his professional debut on home territory next year in the Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond and, with a bit of luck, followed by the Open Championship at Turnberry the following week.

"That would be the dream return," said Laird, who will try to make the Turnberry field through international final qualifying in the US, "but if it was only one it would be the Scottish Open. Outside of the majors that's the one tournament I'd love to play."

That would depend on him making a fast start to his 2009 campaign that will begin on January 15 with the Sony Open in Hawaii. He is also particularly looking forward to the FBR Open a fortnight later at TPC Scottsdale which is just a mile from his home.

"I'm quietly confident, but I could still be more positive," said Laird. "It's still hard for me to accept that I'm as good as the best players in the world on my day. I'm sure I'll get over that at some point."