Martin Laird pleased with Sawgrass start after having clubs 'smashed up'

Scot found equipment had been badly damaged en route from Puerto Rico to Florida

Martin Laird walks to the tenth green during the first round of The Players Championship on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Picture: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images.

Martin Laird overcame arriving at TPC Sawgrass with a set of “smashed up” clubs to make a pleasing start in the 50th anniversary of The Players Championship.

Twelve years after tying for second in the PGA Tour’s flagship event, the 41-year-old made five birdies as he signed for a two-under-par 70, which left him just outside the top 30.

“I’m very happy with the score because, to be honest, I drove it terribly today,” said the four-time PGA Tour winner. “Every time I had a 3-wood, I missed the fairway by about 25 yards right. This is a golf course for me where there are a lot of 3-woods, so it was a struggle off the tee. But I putted really nicely and made some nice up and downs for bogey.”

After starting at the tenth, Laird birdied the 11th and 16th - both par 5s - before feeling he was dealt a harsh blow as his tee shot at the signature 17th hole spun back into the water.

“I hit what I thought was a great shot,” he said. “I landed it right where you’ve normally got to land it four or five yards past the pin and right over the top of it. When it was in the air, I didn’t think it was going to spin back and go in the water. I was a little bit annoyed with that but then hit a lovely little wedge shot that barely stayed on top of the ridge and that was then a nice putt to make (for a bogey).

“I bogeyed 17 and 18 then hit a bad tee shot on one but had a really nice up and down there from a front bunker, making a nice putt for a big par, which was important in terms of momentum. I then made some nice birdies after that. When I got it on the fairway, my iron game was good and I had a lot of good looks as I hit some real close shots.”

It was a praiseworthy performance when you consider that his preparations had been disrupted after discovering his clubs had been damaged en route to Florida from Puerto Rico, where he recorded a second top-ten finish on the PGA Tour in the space of three events.

“When I came out here on Tuesday, I found my driver had been smashed up, my putter was bent and a couple of my irons were broken,” he revealed. “They obviously hadn’t treated them well.

“The steel rod that I put in my clubs to travel to stop that from happening was snapped in half. So someone was throwing my bag around on the way here from Puerto Rico.

“I wasn’t too happy with that. It was a bit of a distraction on Tuesday because I spent the first hour and a half here trying to get equipment sorted. I had to get a driver tweak the next two days as the head I used last week and liked was all smashed up. It wasn’t ideal, but the driver was actually pretty good today.”

Waiting for the Milngavie man who now lives Arizona outside the recorder’s area were his wife, Meagan, and their two young children, Jack and Hannah. “It’s great,” he said of the welcome they had for him. “This is my third week in a row and I’ve not seen them for two-and-a-half weeks. They came in yesterday afternoon and it’s the best. They used to travel all the time but now they’re too old to do that as they go to school. They are dual citizens and they’ll happily say that, too (laughing).”

The pace was set in the $25 million event by the last two Genesis Scottish Open winners, Xander Schauffele and Rory McIlroy, as they signed for matching 65s.

“It’s definitely a little bit of a different golf course today than we play normally because it is so soft,” observed Laird. “I mean, I hit a 5-iron into seven and it just stopped within an inch of the pitchmark and that is very rare round here. That’s why there’s some good scores. If you drive it good, you can shoot good scores because it’s soft.”