Martin Laird siezes victory from Steve Marino after a see-saw final round at the Arnold Palmer Invitational
European golf reached another milestone today when Scotsman Martin Laird won the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill to become the first ever European to win the event. In a tight battle in the final round 28-year-old Scot stole victory from right under Steve Marino’s nose who was leading after the first nine.
Laird began the day’s place with a two stroke lead over his nearest competitor Spencer Levin with Marino tied for third place and four strokes off the lead. Laird was hardly without any worries though. In his last 12 events he went in the final round leading the field twice but failed to win either tournament, and with the start of the final round it seemed like he was determined to do so again.
He bogeyed the 3rd, 7th, 9th and the 11th holes while Marino birdied both the 9thand 10th. Marino, who was playing ahead of Laird, seemed to have changed his mind about winning the tournament when he bogeyed the 15th and double bogeyed the 17th hole. In a last ditch effort he managed to birdie the final hole.
Laird, despite trying his level best it would seem, managed to play a little better than Marino. He bogeyed the 14th hole but shot birdies in both the 15th and the 16th holes and entered the final hole needing only a par for the win. The Scotsman played it safe and eventually holed a three foot putt to secure only his second win on the PGA Tour and most definitely the biggest one of his career yet. The victory also elevated him from the 40th to 21st place on the World Rankings.
"That was a h**l of a day," remarked an ecstatic Laird. "That was a tough fight out there. It was a battle out there, but you know, it makes it even sweeter at the end when I got this trophy."
Marino was hoping for his maiden win at the tournament but with his 2nd position this makes it the third time the American golfer has very nearly missed a shot at victory. In third place was English golfer Justin Rose along with Marc Leishman and David Toms.
The former World No. 1 and the six-time winner of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Tiger Woods finished tied for 24th place after shooting an even par on the last round; a round that involved a bogey and a double bogey on Woods’ last two holes. Phil Mickelson could’ve overtaken Woods in the Rankings had he finished better than him but the American only managed a 73 in the last round after making three bogeys in his last three holes.
Woods was still positive about his chances at the upcoming Masters despite finishing 7 strokes off the lead. To see whether the erstwhile legend can still live up to all his promises and expectations, we’ll just have to wait till the Masters.
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