The star-studded list of European players who will join in on Augusta National Golf Club next week in pursuit of a Green Jacket is topped off once more, adding Martin Laird’s name on it. Laird started a bit slow on Sunday, but composed himself in order to rally for victory at the prestigious Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill. His play and style wasn’t always that pretty, as Laird shot a final-round-75 and never alone. More than a dozen golfers had a chance to win, but most of them got pissed off with the windy condition and demanded course reset. Laird played in the final group, two-putted the 18th hole from nearly 90 feet to win by one stroke over Steve Marino. Watch Golf Masters 2011 and witness every game full force, hook, line, and sinker.
"That was a tough fight out there," Laird said after his victory at Bay Hill. "To be honest, I didn't feel like I had my swing really all day. Pretty much hit it everywhere until about the last four holes. The two clubs that have been good for me, my driver and my putter, held me in all week and they really came through strong. I couldn't be any happier."
For the record, Laird was already in the Masters filed thanks to his performance last season on the PGA Tour. Ranking 50th, he qualified for the Tour Championship and finished in the top 50 – in the year-end world ranking. There’s more to come so watch Golf Masters 2011.
Twenty-eight-year-old Lard made a brief trip about two weeks ago t get a Sneak Peek at Augusta National.
"Never been there before," he said. "Loved the golf course. 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 like (Bay Hill), and 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. I can't wait to get there."
To recall what he’d been through, Laird arrived from his native Scotland at Colorado to play college golf, at that time he was a low-ball hitter just like the others because of the windy weather.
"I hit it really low," he said. "I just hit a low draw, kind of a low, trap draw that a lot of guys from Scotland play. I think going to school in Colorado--a lot of the guys on our team were from Colorado and all hit it into orbit, because you want to do that there so the ball goes farther--I think that helped me. I gradually started hitting it higher and higher.
"Now I've gone from hitting it really low to one of the highest ball flights on tour. When you are playing a golf course like this with greens this firm, you need to hit it as high as you can. You just can't hold greens if you can't hit it way up in the air. It's definitely what you need to have over here to play majors and tough golf courses like this, which is really set up like a major."
No comments:
Post a Comment