Joint leader Laird not expecting Ryder return

Scot Martin Laird said it would be 'obscene' to even think about making the European Ryder Cup team after moving to the top of the Wyndham Championship leaderboard on seven under par.

Boosted by an eagle at the par-four 13th, where he holed out from the rough from 116 yards, the 25-year-old from Glasgow carded a 63 at Sedgefield to finish in a tie for the lead with Bob Heintz, one stroke ahead of Tim Clark, Carl Pettersson, Scott Sterling and Garrett Willis.

Laird, a PGA Tour rookie who came to the United States eight years ago on a golf scholarship at Colorado State, was thinking about the Ryder Cup at the start of the year, but his form until recently has been such that it has slipped from his thoughts.

"It's definitely not on my mind, but if I won this week and next, who knows," said Laird, who has never even spoken to European captain Nick Faldo.

"I had to play early and get in the limelight.

"I lost all confidence for about two months and that was killing me but I've been playing good the last month."

Laird finished tied fourth in his most recent start at the Reno-Tahoe Open, after coming equal 22nd at the previous week's Canadian Open, which was won by his good friend Chez Reavie.

"We were rooming in Toronto," added Laird.

"I saw him win wire to wire, every step with him, because at night he would come back and talk about it. He said to me Sunday night: 'If I can do it, you can do it.'

"After seeing one of your friends you know you're all kind of the same standard, it definitely gives you a bit of a confidence boost to see that you can do it."

Laird made a confidence-boosting start here by sinking an eight-foot putt to save par at the first hole.

"In a funny sense, that was kind of a good start," he said. "I holed a nice putt right in the middle. I walked off the green thinking the stroke feels good already."

If Laird has not quite set the tour on fire this year, 162nd on the money list, Heintz has fared only marginally better, ranked 161st, but he carded eight birdies and one bogey.

"It wasn't perfect golf," said the 38-year-old native of Syosset, on New York's Long Island.

"It was well managed and if you had to pinpoint something, it was distance control. When I was uncomfortable with a certain hole location, I just hit the ball in the middle of the green to give myself an easy two-putt."

Clark, meanwhile, bogeyed the tough par-four 18th to fall out of the lead, but had few complaints.

"I'm right in it, very happy with six under," said the South African, who played his college golf at North Carolina State in nearby Raleigh.

World number five Vijay Singh, the highest-ranked player in a relatively sparse field, carded 69 on a day when the field averaged less than 69 strokes, due to soft greens and little wind.

The tournament, previously known as the Greater Greensboro Open, was first held in 1938. It has returned to Sedgefield this year for the first time since 1976.