MARTIN LAIRD is hopeful he will have locked in qualifying for this year's Open Championship before the pressure of having to secure an Old Course tee-time through the Aberdeen Assert Management Scottish Open.
The smile returned to Laird's face when he birdied two of his closing four holes to get back to par on the opening day of the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow.
Laird, who resides about an hour's drive from the suburban Charlotte course in North Carolina, was struggling at two over par after 11 holes when he sunk a four-foot putt for birdie at the 15th before landing a 104-yard wedge to six feet at the 17th.
It left the Scot trailing seven shots behind American Robert Streb who opened up a two-shot clubhouse lead with a sizzling seven-under-par 65 in the $7.1m event.
Laird is contesting the event for a seventh-straight season and clearly looking to improve on a best finish of T26th in 2012.
"I am pretty happy with a 72 considering I was a couple over with four holes to play and really was playing pretty average," said Laird. "I didn't drive well so to get it around in level par wasn't too bad."
Laird's goal is to qualify for next month's U.S. Open and also July's Open Championship in the week after he tees-up in the Aberdeen Assert Management Scottish Open at Gullane.
"I am playing the next four events and hoping to also qualify for the U.S. Open," he said.
"I have been playing good of late so hopefully if I can qualify for the U.S. Open - I want to be playing in the Open Championship at St. Andrews and I've got two chances in achieving that goal and that's via the Hartford event and at the Scottish Open.
"But hopefully I will be able to lock in both Majors before having to go through qualifying."
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