Golf: Desert double as Paul Lawrie and Martin Laird progress in WGC event

By MARTIN DEMPSTER
Published on Thursday 23 February 2012 03:01

PAUL Lawrie and Martin Laird provided another satisfying day for Scottish golf as they both recorded last-hole wins in the opening round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona.

Making his first appearance in the event for nine years, Lawrie produced a polished performance to beat Englishman Justin Rose at Dove Mountain’s Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Marana.

And he was joined in the last 32 by compatriot Laird after the Arizona-based player produced one of the shots of the day at the last to come out on top against Spaniard Alvaro Quiros in a battle between two of the game’s big-hitters.

After recovering from being one down early on, Lawrie was always in the driving seat as the 43-year-old Aberdonian came out on top against Rose – 22 places above his opponent in the world rankings in 23rd spot – to set up a second-round clash today against Japan’s Ryo Ishikawa.

“I played solid,” said Lawrie, who lost to Tiger Woods, the world No 1 at the time, when he reached the quarter-finals on his first appearance in the event in 2000. “You want to play in these events, but there’s no point playing if you come and get beat.”

The former Open champion, who has been riding on the crest of a wave since chasing home Quiros in the Dubai World Championship and then winning the Qatar Masters for a second time, lost the third to a par before winning three of the next five holes.

He responded to Rose twice reducing the deficit to one hole on the back nine with winning birdies at the 11th and 14th before closing out the match by halving the final three holes with pars.

“It was good fun,” added Lawrie. “I hit a poor shot at the third and took the wrong club at the tenth but, apart from that, I was putting for birdie on every hole. I’m hoping to have a good week so that I can climb up the world rankings – and this is the first step.”

Ishikawa, the 20-year-old world No 56, pulled off a shock as he knocked out FedEx Cup champion Bill Haas. The American, who holed a 40-foot birdie putt in a ply-off to win the Northern Trust Open in Los Angeles on Sunday, bogeyed the last to lose after standing three up with five to go.

Laird, who lost in the first round to Italy’s Edoardo Molinari on his debut in the event 12 months ago, fell behind at the first to a birdie-3 before getting his nose in front for the first time at the 11th only for Quiros to draw level again at the 14th.

Both players missed good birdie chances – the Spaniard saw an effort horse-shoe out at the 15th – before Laird clinched victory when he almost holed a 9-iron with his approach to the last. “I had 160 yards to the pin and, with the ball flying a bit further in the desert, it was the perfect distance and I felt comfortable over it,” said the Scot.

“With four holes to go, I was feeling a bit nervous as it’s almost a case of sudden-death. Every game is a final and I treated it like that. After a good start to the year in Hawaii, I had a bad couple of tournaments recently but my coach came over from South Africa at the weekend and I hit the ball the best I have for a while in practice. I felt excited about getting out there.”

Laird has another all-European clash in the next round against Italian Matteo Manassero, who was never behind as he beat world No 6 Webb Simpson.

There was a feeling of deja vu for Graeme McDowell as the former US Open champion lost to Korean YE Yang for the second year running.

Tiger Woods was one down to Spaniard Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano in a roller-coaster tussle after 11 holes. Fernandez-Castano holed putts from 13 and 22 feet to birdie the first two holes. However, the Spaniard bogeyed the par-four fifth after missing the fairway to the right for his lead to be cut to one up before Woods took control with birdies at the seventh and eighth. One up at the turn, Woods lost the tenth after pulling his drive left into desert scrub and also the par-5 11th, where Fernandez-Castano hit his third shot to three feet.

• The FedExCup play-offs, the PGA Tour’s lucrative four-event season finale, have been extended for a further five years.

Logged in as:

Comment here. Start typing your comment here:

Post comment

Please adhere to our Community guidelines

Your view

Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.