Laird will no doubt be kicking himself for three-putting the final green then losing the play-off to the American Ryder Cup player Matt Kuchar, but for finishing runner-up the Scot earned £520,000, more than double what Edoardo Molinari collected for coming first at Gleneagles.
That’s not a bad consolation for Laird, who moved up to No.3 in the FedEx standings and is assured of playing in the next three play-offs, starting this week with the Deutsche Bank Championship at TPC Boston and finishing with the Tour Championship at East Lake Georgia that is restricted to the top 30 and has a top prize of $10m (£6.46m). If Laird keeps on playing the way he is then the money will simply roll in, and he said as much after the tournament.
“I thought I would have been a lot more gutted than I am,” said Laird who, at one point in the final round had a five-stroke lead. “I’m really happy how I played today. I didn’t have my game going great off the tee and I holed a lot of putts for par just to stay in the position I was. I’m going to take a lot out of this week and the way I’m playing, I don’t see why I can’t be in contention the next few weeks.”
Laird resumes his position as top world-ranked Scot at No.61 – it would have been No.50 if he had two-putted the last – and with Stephen Gallacher steadily rising to his current mark of No.75 there is hope at last of having home players in the elite top 50 and in the fields for the major and world golf championships.
The world ranking points are also a much different matter on either side of the Atlantic. Whereas Molinari gained 30 world ranking points for his win at Gleneagles, Kuchar earned 70 in New Jersey and Laird leapt from outside the top 100 with 42 points.
Curiously, if any of the FedEx Four had played at Gleneagles, or Germany’s US PGA Championship winner Martin Kaymer for that matter, it would have increased the world points on offer to the extent that Molinari’s win would have given him an automatic team place. That would have had the effect of knocking Peter Hanson out and leaving Montgomerie free to pick Paul Casey or Justin Rose.
Luke Donald, who did get the nod, opened with six straight birdies while Montgomerie was making up his mind at Gleneagles, but fell back to a 68 and 16th place alongside Rose to collect £75,000. Rose moved up to No.4 behind Laird in the FedEx standings while Donald was up to No.17.
And what price the lost Ryder Cup place for Casey, who was joint 12th, a stroke ahead of Rose and Donald? He won £102,000 but you can be sure he would trade that for a place at Celtic Manor.
“I probably need time to take it in,” he said after his round alongside Padraig Harrington, who was picked. “The simple fact is I’m not on the team. I think Europe have an unbelievable team. I wish them the best for the match, simple as that.
“I’m not going to stand here and plead a case for why I should be on the team. It’s done and dusted. I tried my hardest and I didn’t make it,” he said, although whether he did try his hardest is open to question. The world No.9 guessed he was out of the team out on the course when Harrington’s wife Caroline said nothing to him after giving her husband’s caddie the thumbs-up. “Caroline’s a great friend – she would have said something to me if I had been picked, so at that point I kind of knew that I hadn’t made it,” he added.
Harrington finished joint 47th, earning £13,000, and said that his head was swimming out on the course when he learned he was in.
“On one hand I’m happy for myself, but I did genuinely feel sorry for Paul. It’s not a great situation to be in. But once you’re not on the team automatically, you do leave yourself up to this and it’s not a nice place to be.
“If I didn’t get picked, I know where I’d be blaming. I didn’t set my schedule properly and, while the Ryder Cup is a big priority of mine to play well in, I possibly didn’t prioritise the qualification. I’ll be more mindful in two years’ time that the money [European as opposed to World points] is the way in.”
