Until his victory in the Arnold Palmer Invitational a couple of weeks ago, Martin Laird’s name was not among the British players being tipped as contenders for this year’s Masters.
In fact, few people outside the tight-knit world of golf had even heard of him.
Now, the United States-based Scot has forced himself to the fore with such a fine run of form that he should be considered in the same breath as the likes of Ian Poulter, Paul Casey and Rory McIlroy — if not, perhaps, Lee Westwood and Luke Donald.
Laird, who moved across the Atlantic on a golfing scholarship at 17 and never left, has slowly but surely started to establish himself towards the upper echelons of the game. He has two wins under his belt in the States and has the gift of confidence for his first visit to Augusta.
“I know it’s going to be tough because it’s a course you need to know,” he said. “But I feel that I have the game to contend. If I keep driving the ball and putting as I have done over the past few weeks, I don’t see why I shouldn’t be in the mix come Sunday.”
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Laird had a quick reconnaissance trip to Augusta a couple of weeks ago and found the experience “surreal”. He felt that he already knew the course, having watched the Masters on television over the years, but was nonetheless taken aback by its scale. “The vastness of the grounds is staggering,” he said. “It’s huge.”
Nothing he saw, however, intimidated him. In fact, he came away believing that with his extremely high ball flight and gift of length off the tee, he has what it takes to score well and even to win. If he were to do so, however, he would become only the second player after Fuzzy Zoeller, in 1979, to win the Masters on his debut. Only time will tell if his confidence is misplaced.
“My game is set up well for Augusta,” he said. “Hitting it high is a huge advantage because the greens are going to be firm and you need to be able to hold them.”
Among his armoury, he points out is the new white-headed TaylorMade R11 driver that he claims has given him an extra 10 to 15 yards off the tee.
Add to that a soaring confidence when it comes to putting, and he has no fear of the undulating, fearsomely difficult greens. It will be interesting to see what he thinks at the end of the week.
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“Right now the strongest part of my game is the putting,” he said. “That’s a huge turn of events because it used to be the weakest part of my game. From the middle of last year, though, it has really come on a lot.”
Much of the turnaround, Laird says, is due to the work he has been doing with his coach, Dave Stockton Jr, who has stopped him becoming too technical. Paralysis by analysis had been affecting the way he approached the “game within a game” and it was holding him back.
“Strange though it sounds, I was trying too hard,” he said. “It sounds funny, but Dave has been getting me to try less.
“If you worry too much about a putt you’ll tense up and put a poor stroke on the ball.”
Of the four majors, Laird chooses the Open Championship as the one he would most like to win. “Nothing could mean more to me than winning the Open, particularly on one of the courses in Scotland in front of a Scottish crowd,” he said. But after that, he would pick the Masters.
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Today, he hopes to play a practice round with Sandy Lyle, his fellow Scot and the champion here in 1988. He was only 5 when Lyle became the first Briton to win the Masters and has no memory of the day.
He is aware, however, of the impact it had back home in Scotland. “It was a big day for Scottish golf and hopefully we’ll see another green jacket not so long from now,” he said.
World rankings
1, M Kaymer (Ger) 7.91pts
2, L Westwood (GB) 7.43
3, P Mickelson (US) 6.75
4, L Donald (GB) 6.59
5, G McDowell (GB) 6.11
6, P Casey (GB) 5.65
7, T Woods (US) 5.64
8, S Stricker (US) 5.45
9, R McIlroy (GB) 5.45
10, M Kuchar (US) 5.30
11, D Johnson (US) 5.03
12, J Furyk (US) 4.94
13, E Els (SA) 4.66
14, N Watney (US) 4.60
15, F Molinari (It) 4.41
16, I Poulter (GB) 4.38
17, B Watson (US) 4.30
18, H Mahan (US) 4.25
19, R Goosen (SA) 4.09
20, R Karlsson (Swe) 4.02
21, M Laird (GB) 3.89
22, L Oosthuizen (SA) 3.66
23, Á Quirós (Sp) 3.66
24, J Rose (GB) 3.62
25, M Á Jiménez (Sp) 3.61