Laird Reaping Rewards of Strong ’09 Finish

Martin Laird is an ideal case study of what it takes to survive and thrive on the PGA Tour.

The former Colorado State University golfer is hardly a model of consistency — far from it, in fact — but when he gets on a roll, he milks it for all it’s worth. That’s a key reason why he’s one of just 28 players in the field for this week’s 2010 season opener on Tour: the Hawaii-based SBS Championship, limited to PGA Tour winners in 2009.

Laird will be making his SBS debut after notching the first Tour victory of his career at the Justin Timberlake tournament in Las Vegas in October. The 27-year-old Scot will be the only participant with strong Colorado ties competing in the Tour’s season opener.

Laird, the winner of the 2004 Denver Open, lived on the edge for his first 21 months on the PGA Tour. He needed an 8-foot putt on the final hole of the final event of the 2008 season to finish 125th on the season-long money list — the last spot that secured fully-exempt status for 2009. Then last year, he was in danger of losing his Tour card as he stood 134th on the money list going into the Timberlake tournament.

But, as Laird demonstrated, it only takes a great tournament performance or two to go from on the verge of being an ex-Tour player to having a spot in a champions-only event in paradise.

As of April 20 last year, Laird had missed seven cuts in his first eight tournaments of 2009. He only cashed a check for one event, finishing 54th in the Bob Hope Classic for an $11,679 payday. But Laird played outstanding golf starting at the end of July, and he won a combined total of more than $1 million in two events, finishing second at the Reno-Tahoe Open in August and winning a three-hole playoff in the Timberlake tournament in October.

The upshot is that despite missing cuts in half his tournaments of 2009, Laird won $1.35 million on Tour, good for 65th place on the money list. More importantly, he earned a two-year Tour exemption with his victory. And now he’s the first Scot since 2000 to play in the Tour’s season opener.

Although he’s the only one competing this week, Laird is one of five golfers with strong Colorado ties who will play at least part-time on the PGA Tour this year. Laird, Kent Denver High School graduate Kevin Stadler and Parker resident Shane Bertsch are fully exempt, while David Duval of Cherry Hills Village will probably get into about 20 events and former University of Colorado golfer Jonathan Kaye should gain spots in a smattering of tournaments as a winner of two Tour events in his career.

Here’s a brief rundown on Stadler, Bertsch, Duval and Kaye:

“¢In 2009, Stadler finished in the top 100 on the PGA Tour money list for the first time, ending up 97th with $925,514. The former Colorado Open champion also matched his best showing in a Tour event, losing in a playoff and placing second at the Wyndham Championship in August. But because he was only partially exempt on Tour last year, Stadler was only able to get into one tournament after Sept. 7. However, with him finishing in the top 125 on the 2009 money list, that won’t be an issue this year.

“¢Bertsch played in just two Tour events in 2009 (two missed cuts) after breaking his foot late in 2008, but he regained his fully-exempt status for this year by finishing 15th in the final stage of Tour qualifying last month. A final-round 65 in that 108-hole event put him into the top 25, the cutoff for full exemptions in 2010. Bertsch, a former Colorado Open champion, has played 131 Tour events in his career, with his best finish being a tie for fifth in the 1996 Greater Vancouver Open.

“¢Duval, winner of 13 Tour events but none since 2001, goes into a Tour season with less than fully-exempt status — or a medical exemption — for the first time since 1994. The former No. 1-ranked player in the world finished 130th on the 2009 Tour money list despite a second-place showing in the U.S. Open, his best performance on Tour since 2001. He missed seven cuts in his last eight tournaments and failed to improve his status at the final stage of Tour qualifying. Despite making just six cuts in 22 tournaments in 2009, Duval probably will be able to play almost as many events in 2010, and he’s clinched spots in the first three major championships of the year.

“¢Kaye lost his fully-exempt status last year and came up a little short in Tour qualifying, placing 34th, with the top 25 earning Tour cards. The Denver native still figures to get into a relatively small number of Tour events in 2010 on the basis of his past-champions status (he’s won twice on Tour), and he can play full-time on the Nationwide Tour if he so chooses. Kaye’s best finish on Tour in 2009 was a ninth place at the Reno-Tahoe Open in August, his first top-10 since 2006.