Two years ago, Martin Laird was not only missing from the field for the Masters, but he was nowhere to be found among the top 300-ranked golfers in the world.
The 2004 Colorado State University graduate seemed to be spinning his wheels on the PGA Tour and was in the midst of a stretch in which he missed seven consecutive cuts.
It’s hard to believe that the same player now is being mentioned by some as a dark-horse pick to win this week’s Masters.
It must be remembered that only one Masters “rookie” since 1935 has won the event — Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979 — and that Laird is making his Masters debut this week. But considering how things have been going for the Scotsman since late last summer, it would be foolish to dismiss his chances out of hand.
After all, this is a golfer who has averaged more than a quarter-of-a-million dollars per PGA Tour start over the last 7½ months. During that time, he’s won once (the Arnold Palmer Invitational 10 days ago), finished second in playoffs twice, and has also posted a third-place showing, a fifth and a 10th. All told, he’s had top-10 performances in six of his last 13 official Tour outings, and top-fives in five of his last 13.
“I’m not someone that sets individual goals that much; I just try to improve every year and see where that takes me,” Laird said leading up to the Masters, which starts Thursday (April 7) at Augusta National in Georgia. “I’m not shocked that I’ve achieved two (career) Tour wins already, but if you had told me a couple of years ago that I’d be 21st in the world, I probably wouldn’t have believed you.”
But that is indeed where the former CSU golfer finds himself in the World Golf Rankings heading into the first major championship of the year. In 2004, he was ecstatic to win the Denver Open at Buffalo Run Golf Course in Commerce City. Now, he’s on the verge of joining the top echelon of the world’s tour players.
Laird will go into the Masters ranked fifth on the PGA Tour’s 2011 money list. In his last three tournaments, he’s finished 10th, fifth and first. And since late August, very few players can say they’ve won more than the $3.277 million Laird has pulled in.
The end of 2010 “was when I started to realize I’ve probably always lacked a little bit of self-confidence and that was probably when I started to realize that I could be one of the best players,” he said.
In the last several months of 2010, Laird lost in playoffs to Matt Kuchar at the Barclays in the FedEx Cup playoffs, then to Jonathan Byrd in the Justin Timberlake tournament in Las Vegas, where Laird was the defending champion. Laird three-putted the 72nd hole of regulation at the Barclays, and fell victim to a hole-in-one by Byrd in Vegas.
But the Scottsdale, Ariz., resident broke through for career victory No. 2 in the high-profile Arnold Palmer Invitational on March 27, setting the stage to ride into Augusta on a very high note.
“I’m definitely taking a lot of confidence out of my win against a tough field on a very tough golf course,” Laird said of Bay Hill. “This can only help going into the Masters and for the rest of the year.”
Laird hits the ball very high — a big change from a decade ago — and long and his short game has made great strides in recent years, which should be a good fit for Augusta.
“I believe I have the game that suits this course, and if I can do what I have been doing recently, I’ll do well,” the 28-year-old said. “”¦ First timer or not, I really believe that I can have a run at the green jacket if I play like I have over the last month.”
Sandy Lyle, a fellow Scot and a former Masters champion, sees Laird as a very promising young player.
“Martin is a very steady performer in America and I would say he’s a dark horse” at Augusta, Lyle told Reuters. “He could do very well at the Masters because he has got a good short game and a good long game.”
This will be the first year that Laird has been eligible to compete in all four major championships. But that — and all his recent success — is not the only reason this will be a memorable year for him. Soon, he plans to marry a woman with plenty of Colorado connections of her own — Meagan Franks, a daughter of Hank Franks, a former head professional at Haymaker Golf Course in Steamboat Springs.
Another Steamboat Springs resident, Verne Lundquist, will be part of CBS’ broadcasting team for the Masters, and he’s watched Laird’s ascendance with more than a casual interest as an acquaintance of the Franks family.
“He’s a terrific young player,” Lundquist said of Laird. “I’m thrilled for him and delighted for the Franks family.”
