In-form Laird targets Masters

GOLF:WITH A second win in America now under his belt, Scotland's Martin Laird is turning his thoughts to trying to do something achieved just once since 1935.

Fuzzy Zoeller is the only player to have lifted the Masters title on his debut in all those years, but fresh from his dramatic Arnold Palmer Invitational victory, Laird simply cannot wait for next week.

The 28-year-old Glaswegian, who has based himself in the States since his college days, had his first look at Augusta National two weeks ago.

“Loved the golf course,” he said. “I feel like it really does set up pretty good for me with hitting it high. And I know those greens will get real firm (as they were at Bay Hill).

“Obviously putting is probably the strongest part of my game right now and that’s really what it all comes down to coming down the stretch at Augusta.”

Amazingly, Laird’s victory was the 11th by a European golfer on the PGA Tour since the start of May last year – and that includes the last two majors in the States.

But it was more the fact that compatriot Paul Lawrie had won in Spain on the same day that caught people’s attention.

With Colin Montgomerie in decline, Scotland did not have a single player in the game’s top 100 at the start of last year.

Now Laird is at a career-high 21st, Stephen Gallacher is 74th and Lawrie – still the last British winner of The Open – has climbed from 272nd to 150th with his win at the Andalucian Open in Malaga.

“It’s no secret that Scottish golf has been down for a few years after Monty’s dominance,” Laird said. “Now we have got a lot of good players. We just need to get up there and get experience and to have two wins in one week is obviously huge.”

Last August Laird three-putted from under 25 feet on the final hole in the first of the FedEx Cup play-offs and lost a play-off to Matt Kuchar.

To avoid sudden death with Steve Marino this weekend he two-putted the last from 83 feet – and that after making a 22-footer on the 15th, an 18-footer on the 16th (both for birdies) and a five-footer for par at the short 17th, where Marino had just double-bogeyed.

Yet even with playing the last four holes in two under, Laird shot a closing 75. He covered the first 11 in five over.

“I pretty much hit it everywhere until about the last four holes,” he admitted. “It was a battle out there, but it makes it even sweeter at the end when I got this trophy.”