Martin

Laird

The Scot was making his course debut this week but no stranger to success at the event. He was 6-for-6 with all six of those paydays doubling as top-15 finishes. As a Denver resident, his comfort in altitude certainly helps. Laird ended the week ranked T4 in fairways hit and T12 in GIR. That has been the story of his season as he ranks 31st on TOUR in strokes gained tee-to-green. A solo third is impressive but perhaps even more impressive when you consider he was close to skipping the week due to a knee injury, “I wasn’t even sure I was going to play this week. I had a cortisone shot in my knee last week to just even be able to be here, so I’ve definitely not been doing any hiking, but my family has been away enjoying the mountains and doing those things for sure.” Laird will try to keep the momentum rolling next week at the 3M Open.

The Denver resident landed 13 GIR for the third round in a row. The birdies weren’t dropping, though, with just two circles and one bogey on his opening 10 holes. He caught fire from there with five homeward birdies including three straight to end his day. After the round, he talked about his comfort in this week’s playing conditions, “Always like playing at altitude, love being in the mountains. I live in Denver, so it’s not strange for me with how far the ball goes. I kind of know my numbers at this altitude, which is nice.” He arrived with a perfect 6-for-6 record at the Barracuda Championship with all six doubling as top 15s. This was his first appearance at Tahoe Mountain Club, though. Tomorrow Laird will try to hunt down Chez Reavie (+37) and try to pick up his fifth PGA TOUR title with the most recent coming at the 2020-21 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.

The Scot entered the week with a 6-for-6 record at the Barracuda Championship with all six finishes doubling as top 15s. It’s safe to say the Colorado State product likes playing above sea level. Tahoe Mountain Club sits around 6,000 feet above sea level. Today he split 13-of-14 fairways but settled for just 13 GIR. Still, he circled six birdies in a fantasy-friendly output that offset a four-pack of bogeys. He’ll now ready for the weekend and hope to extend his top-15 streak at this event. The four-time winner is looking for his first win since the 2020-21 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.

The Scot found the same number of fairways as greens today (13). The fairway portion of that stat is impressive while the GIR number is just so-so. He made the most of those opportunities with six birdies and just two bogeys today. The Colorado State product is very comfortable with altitude golf and he’s shown it over the years at this event. He arrived with a perfect 6-for-6 record at the Barracuda Championship with all six doubling as top 15s. He arrived at just 126th in the FedExCup race but he’s striking the ball much better than that, entering at 31st on TOUR in strokes gained tee-to-green.

After posting rounds of 63-69-66, the Colorado State alum is in the top 10 thru 54 holes for the first time since the 2021 Shriners (Oct. 2020) 20 months ago on a sponsor invite, where he was a 54-hole co-leader, closed in 3-under 68, and prevailed in a 3-man playoff. That remains his most recent of four TOUR victories in 342 events, coming 40 starts ago, and will be in the third-to-last pairing on Sunday with K.H. Lee. At the three-quarter pole, the Scot has tallied 16 birdies against four bogeys, five versus one today, and ranks 4th SG: Tee-to-Green (9.306), highlighted by a 4.576 TTG today, and 39th SG: Putting (0.406), losing strokes with the flat stick in Rounds 2 (-1.600) and 3 (-1.787).

The Scot piped 10-of-14 fairways but landed just 13 greens in regulation. “Got off to an average start. Pretty much flat-out chunked an 8-iron from the middle of the fairway on the first hole short of the green and hit a nice pitch up there to about eight feet and made the putt.” That would be the story of his day as he’d gain 3.7 strokes putting before his day was over. “I’ve been hitting the ball great pretty much all year, struggling with my putting. Just been inconsistent. Feel like I’ve been putting pretty good and just not seeing anything go in, and it’s been frustrating for a couple months.” Laird arrived with 10 straight finishes outside of the top 25.

The story of Laird’s 2022 has been the putter as the 39-year-old has been terrific in the ball-striking department. Routinely gaining strokes off-the-tee and on approach, Laird’s minimal gain on the greens of TPC San Antonio marked the first time in two months he was able to accomplish such. 5-for-7 making the cut this year, Laird is now set for his eighth start in the Zurich Classic. T-7 in 2018 with Russell Knox and T-9 in 2019 with Nick Taylor, he will now look to Robert MacIntyre for assistance. This will be the 25-year-old’s Zurich Classic debut, but he does arrive off a top-25 finish at the Masters Tournament. Connecting on his last six cuts worldwide, the Scottish duo will likely need to lean on MacIntyre’s putting as both are adequate from tee-to-green.

The 2011 API champ started his day sitting at 51st on the leaderboard but made a big move with a five-birdie, two-bogey effort. Highlights included a pair of birdie conversions from the 19-for-21 foot range. He walked off the course gaining 1.8 strokes putting and his score in general was 4.7 shots better than the field average. This will be the seventh time in his career that he’s better the field by at least four shots at Bay Hill. Laird is now T10 on the live leaderboard with play still in progress.

The 39-year-old Scotsman made four starts in the fall season, finishing T-11 at the Shriners Children’s Open and T-22 at the Mayakoba, but missing cuts at the Sanderson Farms and in his last start at the Houston Open. Last season, Laird made 14 cuts in 27 starts and was 75th on the FedExCup standings with a win at the Shriners for his only top-10 finish of the year. Playing on a sponsor exemption at TPC Summerlin in 2020, Laird a 23-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole to beat Matthew Wolff and Austin Cook after they tied at 23-under 261. It marked Laird’s fourth PGA Tour win and his first in 7 1/2 years. Wolfe will look for a rebound performance after missing the cut last week at the Sony Open in Hawaii. He’s made just one cut in six starts in the new season, finishing T-63 at the RSM Classic.

The 38-year-old Scotsman will make his 13th start in the Shriners event, where he’s made 10 cuts with wins in 2009 and the 2021 event, as well as a T-2 in 2010. Last year, Laird – playing on a sponsor exemption – made a 23-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole to beat Matthew Wolff and Austin Cook after they tied at 23-under 261. It was Laird’s fourth PGA Tour win, and his first in seven and a half years. In 2009, he beat George McNeill with a birdie on the third playoff hole after they tied at 19-under 265 (Chad Campbell was also in the playoff). In 2010, he shot middle rounds of 62-63 to finish at 21-under 263, tied Jonathan Byrd and Cameron Percy. Byrd eventually won the playoff with a hole in one on the fourth extra hole. Last season, Laird made 14 cuts in 27 starts and was 75th on the FedExCup standings with his win at the Shriners as his only top 10 finish of the year. He qualified for the PGA Tour Playoffs for the 11th time.