Laird looks forward to Open debut on home turf

Published on Tuesday 26 May 2009 23:06

SCOT Martin Laird will play his first Open Championship in July only 45 minutes away from where he grew up in Glasgow.

"I've never even played a professional event in Scotland – this is going to be great," said the 26-year-old after squeezing through the American qualifier in Texas on Monday night with nothing to spare.

Laird, who stayed on in the States after studying for a marketing degree in Colorado, fired rounds of 67 and 65 to finish 10 under par and so share third spot with Americans Davis Love and James Driscoll, Swedes Fredrik Jacobson and Richard S Johnson and New Zealander Tim Wilkinson. Eight places were on offer and the first two went to former US Amateur champion Matt Kuchar and fellow American Jeff Overton. However, Jesper Parnevik, who lost by one to Nick Price at Turnberry in 1994 after standing on the final tee three clear, missed out by two.

The 44-year-old, who followed up an opening 64 with only a 70, bogeyed the last hole 15 years ago and was pipped when Price finished birdie-eagle-par.

Former Ryder Cup star Love secured a 23rd consecutive start at the Open after finishing in the first group of the day and waiting for two hours to see if he had done enough.

"It's my favourite major – the way they set up the course and the tradition," he said. "It's certainly the one where I feel like I have a real good chance to be competitive."

Others to miss out included New Zealander Danny Lee, the youngest-ever winner on the European Tour when he took the Johnnie Walker Classic as an amateur in February, Swede Daniel Chopra and German Alex Cejka, who led the recent Players Championship before faltering. He began with a 63 but then returned a 71.

Love carded rounds of 67 and 65 for a 10-under-par total of 132 at Gleneagles Country Club in the US leg of international qualifying. "I actually thought the scores would be a bit lower than this so I was glad to get in," the 45-year-old said after tying for third in a field of 78.

Fellow American Matt Kuchar led the way at Gleneagles, rounds of 63 and 66 earning him a fifth appearance at the Open.

"I can't believe I'm the medallist out of this field," said 1997 US amateur champion Kuchar, who has missed the cut in his four previous Open appearances.

"I'm really tired right now, but I've worked really hard and hit a lot more balls than I usually do and think this will be a good momentum boost for me."

Elsewhere, Ross Fisher's win in the European Open last July received nothing like the same coverage as Rafael Nadal's victory over Roger Federer at Wimbledon the same day. But it was still an ace performance and Fisher, runner-up to Paul Casey at Wentworth on Sunday after a closing 64, returns to the London Club in Kent this week looking to serve up another.

The 28-year-old from Surrey had been to the tennis on the Tuesday – it was his wife's birthday – and thought about taking the rest of the week off. But what a great decision it was to get back to work.

Without a practice round on a venue new to the European Tour, Fisher opened with a course-record 63, finished by holing a bunker shot and took the trophy by seven from Sergio Garcia. He has not won again in the 10 months since, but has moved up to 22 in the world, lost a play-off at St Andrews, reached the semi-finals of the World Match Play in Arizona and his superb bid to snatch the Tour's flagship title away from Casey at the weekend fills him with confidence.

"I couldn't really give it any more than I did, I played some great golf," he said. "Obviously to come up one shy is disappointing, but it's a great week for myself. It was probably one of the best rounds I've ever shot. It wasn't meant to be, but I'll take a lot of positives from it."

Garcia, relegated to fourth in the world by Casey's victory on Sunday, did not play at Wentworth for the ninth straight year, but is in this week's field again.

And the tournament also sees the professional debut of 22-year-old Shane Lowry, whose last act as an amateur was his sensational Irish Open triumph two weeks ago. He could not accept the winner's cheque of nearly 440,000 at County Louth, but the two-year Tour exemption was the most valuable prize.

Last season Fisher took home 400,000, but times are hard even in the lucrative world of professional sport and that is down to 300,000 this week.