First round of The Players Championship concludes with Ian Poulter and Martin laird at the top: Wrap-up Part-2
Continued from: First round of The Players Championship concludes with Ian Poulter and Martin laird at the top: Wrap-up Part-1
Scotsman Laird also pulled in his best performance so far in the year, carding a glistening seven-under, 66 to garb the joint lead in the opening round of the star-studded event.
In search for his third PGA Tour victory, Laird shot into contention after a lapse of considerable period of time pulling in seven straight birdies without dropping a shot in the opening round.
The Scotsman has landed at the sprawling TPC Sawgrass with a completely new outlook, with a new caddie on his bag and a brand new set of clubs which includes a new driver and 3-wood from his equipment sponsor, TaylorMade.
Laird, who has been playing with Alan Bond, switched over to his long time friend Shay Knight, believes the changes have worked well for him so far.
He said, "It's definitely kept me a little more relaxed on the golf course. I worked with Dave Stockton Jr. and the whole thing they work with is trying not to care on your putts. I consciously have been doing that the last couple weeks, not trying to try
too hard because I know I haven't putted well here before, just have a quick look, see what you think the line is and let it go. Don't study it too much and don't think about it too much”.
Laird regarded his putter as the major reason of his strong short game in the morning.
He added, “Really the key to my round today was the putter. I putted really well”.
A total of 27 players shot in 60’s on the opening day while some of the top-ranked players stayed away from the top slots on the leaderboard, falling for level-par or even worse.
In his last three appearances on the TPC Sawgrass, Laird has gone over to make two halfway cuts and missed one.
Winner of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay hill last year, Laird did not perform well in the events this year and was curious as to how his new range of equipment will behave at the treacherous Players.
Laird alos held the accolade of being the only Scottish player on the PGA before Russell Know earned his tour card for the year 2011.
To be continued...
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