Laird eyes Augusta after Bay Hill heroics

WITH a second win in the US 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 US 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). 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.

“I was lucky enough when I graduated from Colorado State that a group of sponsors gave me some money to play. I could just go work on my game and try and get better.

“People back in Scotland don’t always have that luxury, but I believe now they have a system set up with a couple of sponsors and I think some government funding (Lawrie also has his own foundation) that they are going to try and bridge that gap.

“There’s no doubt we have the talent in the country.”

There is another easy measure — apart from his world ranking and bank balance — of how much and how quickly Laird has improved.

Last August he 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 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 sweeter at the end.

“I’ve always been a grinder. And all of those hours on the range and all of those hours on the greens, chipping green, whatever, it all pays off.”

With more than a million dollars for his win, he is now a six-million dollar man in the States. The next question is whether he can leap from Lee Majors to major winner.