Hawaii result is ideal start to Martin Laird’s bid for Ryder Cup

HE MAY have given his rivals a head start but Martin Laird has delivered an encouraging opening salvo in his bid to rewrite the record books by becoming the first affiliate member of the European Tour to play for Europe in the Ryder Cup.

More than four months after the gun went off to start the race to qualify for the side that will defend the trophy at Medinah Country Club near Chicago in September, the 29-year-old from Glasgow launched his challenge with a splendid second place behind Steve Stricker in the PGA Tour’s Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Hawaii.

Fourth in the same event at Kapalua two years ago, Laird birdied five of the last seven holes for a closing 67 and a 20-under-par total of 272 – three shots behind Stricker, who had a shaky start to his final round but recovered to chalk up a ninth Tour success since 2009.

Laird, who bagged more birdies – 29 – than anyone else in the 27-strong field during the week, picked up a cheque for $650,000 to take his PGA Tour career earnings to just under $7.7 million. He also leapt 14 places to 33rd in the world rankings. But, most pleasing of all for him was the fact that he is now off and running in the Ryder Cup race.

“I’ve been saying the last month or two I wanted to get off to a quick start this year and get my name up there and be in contention for the team,” he said. “So coming out here and playing like this this week has obviously done that for me.”

Having decided against becoming a full European Tour member due to the fact he is based in Scottsdale, Arizona, Laird is going to have to do it the hard way in his bid to earn a place on Jose Maria Olazabal’s team in Illinois.

He needs to qualify from the world points list, where the five spots up for grabs are filled at present by the world’s top two – Luke Donald and Lee Westwood – as well as Justin Rose, Simon Dyson and Graeme McDowell.

By picking up 22.80 points – more than Louis Oosthuizen received for defending his Africa Open title at the weekend – Laird is now 40th on that list, with fellow Scots Paul Lawrie, Richie Ramsay and George Murray among those still ahead of him.

“I still reckon I need to win at least once, maybe twice, to get on that team on the points,” he added. “But, obviously, coming here and finishing second has helped me a lot.

“When I say to people that I’m hoping to make the Ryder Cup team, they kind of say to me, ‘oh, yeah, you’ll make it’. I don’t think a lot of people realise just how hard it is. I could have a great year this year and still not make the team.

“There’s probably 20 players in Europe right now that, if any of them were on the team, you wouldn’t look at it and think ‘what is this guy doing here?’. There’s so many good players right now, so I know I’ve got to play exceptionally well all year to make the team and, hopefully, that’s something I can do.”

Laird showed in winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill last year that he has the game for a test such as the Ryder Cup and he is determined to put himself in the frame for Olazabal’s two wildcard selections should he miss out on automatic qualification.

He is staying in America for the opening third of the year but has pencilled in a trip to Wentworth for the BMW PGA Championship in May, with a return to Castle Stuart for the Scottish Open also likely to be on the cards before he tees up in the Open Championship at Royal Lytham. More immediately, Laird has decided against playing in the second leg of the PGA Tour’s Hawaii double-header – this week’s Sony Open – due to the fact he feels a winding course at Waialae doesn’t suit his game.

“I’m going to play Humana Challenge [in California in a fortnight’s time] next and then, after that, I’m going to play Phoenix, Pebble Beach, LA and then the WGC Match Play,” Laird replied when asked about his schedule for the early part of the season.

“I’ll then play Doral, Transitions, Bay Hill then, after a week off, The Masters. I’m excited about the first part of my schedule. I really like all those courses. I feel like I can I have a really good chance of winning at all those tournaments and, after the way I played this week, I’m excited for the start of the season.” Five behind Stricker heading into the final round, Laird, the only European in the winners-only field, had closed to within three of the lead by picking up three birdies in a row from the third only to see his title hopes disappear following bogeys at the eighth and tenth.

“I had a little hiccup in the middle there but, after letting a bunch of final rounds go last year, I had a little talk to myself walking down 11,” he revealed.

“I wasn’t going to do that today and I set a goal of birdieing five of the last seven holes standing on the 12th tee. My target was to get to 20 under and see what happened, and I did that, which is very pleasing.

“Two years ago, when I had a chance to win the tournament with five holes to go, I bogeyed 16 and 17 and birdied 18. I finished a lot stronger this time, which is probably down to a little bit more experience.”