Alot has happened to Martin Laird since he managed to hold on grimly to his PGA Tour card back in 2008.
Two wins and a wedding may sound like some ropey, golf-related romantic comedy in which the bumbling Hugh Grant would star, but they are in fact the ingredients that have formed part of the Laird script over these last three years.
It’s a tale that could have been slightly different, of course, had he not held his nerve and holed a career-altering putt of eight-feet on the very last hole of the very last event of that pivotal 2008 campaign.
As a rookie on the main US circuit, Laird went into the closing tournament of the season at the Walt Disney resort sitting 126th on the money list, with only the leading 125 retaining their playing rights.
His knee-knocking putt for par on the 72nd hole of the Children’s Miracle Network Classic was enough to give him a share of 21st and inch the Hilton Park honorary member up a single place into the promised land of the top 125. It was the kind of close shave that Sweeney Todd would have admired demonically and it remains a moment that Laird can still reflect on, even though he is now an established force on the main circuit.
“I cut it as close as you can cut it,” said the 28-year-old, who is looking forward to sharing the duties of carrying the Saltire on the PGA Tour next season with the Inverness exile Russell Knox. “Those last three holes at Disney that year were the most nervous I’ve been on a golf course. If you had told me at the time that I would have two wins within the next three years I would never have imagined it. But those are the experiences you gain on tour. You learn from that kind of thing and in the years since then I’ve learned a lot.”
For new recruit Knox, there were words of wisdom. “I went out on the main tour and expected to play well and thought I wouldn’t have a problem keeping my card,” he added. “I didn’t realise how hard it would be. The competition is harder, the courses are harder. A lot of players struggle when they get out on tour but it’s not something you should beat yourself up about. Russell is obviously a good player and shouldn’t feel intimidated. I always tried not to get too down on myself.”
Laird certainly has no major worries at the moment. Having married his American girl, Meagan Franks, in the summer, the Scot has been enjoying an extended break from the fairways and a belated honeymoon to the Pacific island retreat of Bora Bora. “We decided to delay it until the end of the season,” he said. “It’s been good to just escape golf and not even think about picking up a club.”
The mind is beginning to retune to tournament mode, though. He will head for China later this month to partner fellow Scot Stephen Gallacher in the World Cup at Mission Hills before embarking on a meaty schedule of events that he hopes can thrust him into contention for the 2012 European Ryder Cup team. With qualification for the transatlantic tussle at Medinah already under way, Laird is playing catch up. He has stated his intention to take up European Tour membership at the start of the year but will not compete on this side of the Atlantic until after the Masters, preferring instead to rack up world points in the series of big events on the West coast of the US in the important, formative months of the schedule.
Having exploded out of the blocks last year with a third in the Phoenix Open and a fifth in the Transitions Championship, before becoming the first European to plunder the Arnold Palmer Invitational with a famous triumph at Bay Hill, Laird is eager to replicate that kind of form. That’s why he has spent the last month with his feet up, so he can hit the ground running in the new year.
“The Ryder Cup is going to be tough for me as I’ll have missed four months of potential points,” he admitted. “But if I go out and start the new season like I did last season then there’s no reason why I can’t keep that form up through the summer. That is the goal, to get off to that kind of start and be on the Ryder Cup radar and come back over to Europe to show that I want to make the team.
“It is going to be a big year for me and that’s why I’m taking the time now to charge my batteries. I didn’t want to come to January and still feel worn out. Taking my time off now will allow me to put all my energy into the new season and trying to make the Ryder Cup team.”
The 2012 campaign will, of course, be a marathon not a sprint and Laird is determined to ensure that another early-season burst does not leave him stumbling towards the finishing line. After his productive spring, the Glaswegian managed just one more top 10, in May’s Crowne Plaza Invitational. Consistency remains a work in progress.
“I really had four or five chances to win in the early part of year so the second half was disappointing. I need to work on that, to make sure that even when I’m not at my best I’m still challenging. Ask any golfer and they’ll tell you the hardest thing is to be consistent.”
interview With the Ryder Cup in his thoughts, Martin Laird aims to hit the ground running next year, writes Nick Rodger
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