Last time Martin Laird needed two putts to win a tournament, he took three.
The 28-year-old Scotsman ended up losing the ensuing playoff to Matt Kuchar last September at The Barclays. If he wanted to sleep at night, he wasn’t about to make the same mistake again Sunday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
“It’s not like I took that one for granted but I probably got a little ahead of myself there at The Barclays,” he acknowledged Sunday. “I kind of thought to myself last night and this morning, I’ve let a few tournaments go.
“I definitely had my concentration full as hard as I could there on 18 (on Sunday). I wasn’t going to let this one go.”
Laird calmly two-putted from 87 feet to secure his second, and biggest, tour win at a tournament that turned into a battle of attrition Sunday afternoon. His closing-round 75 was enough for a gritty victory by a former mini-tour grinder whose combination of length off the tee and a deft touch on the greens has made him a force to be reckoned with.
“All of those hours on the range, and all of those hours on the greens, chipping green, whatever, the last few years, it all pays off eventually,” he said.
Laird began with a two-shot lead but clearly wasn’t in command of his game. He stumbled to 5 over par for the day after a double bogey at the 11th, but battled back with two birdies and clutch pars on the closing holes to deny Steve Marino his breakthrough win on tour.
Marino will be the one with the nightmares after butchering the penultimate hole. He bounced back from that needless double bogey with a birdie at the last, but it still added up to one too many.
Laird’s 75 was the highest winning score ever at Bay Hill and the highest on the PGA Tour since Trevor Immelman held on to win the 2008 Masters.
While basking in his glory, Laird was like many players at Bay Hill, turning their thoughts to the year’s first major.
“I went and played Augusta (two weeks ago),” he said. “Never been there before. Loved the golf course. I feel like it really does set up pretty good for me with hitting it high. And I know those greens will get real firm like (Bay Hill), and obviously putting is probably the strongest part of my game right now.
“I can’t wait to get there.”
He wasn’t alone in that sentiment. Listening to Tiger Woods, who shot a final-round 72 at Bay Hill to tie for 24th, you’d have thought he’d won, given how happy he was with his 1-under tournament total.
“Very simple: I hit three water balls this week, and a few missed putts here and there and I’m not that far behind,” he said.
“You can’t afford to make those mistakes. (But) it was a very good week and a week I needed to see. I really hit the ball well, and the things that we were working on the last couple of weeks really felt comfortable today. I felt I was able to control just about every shot today.”
Perhaps not his approach shot on the last hole, which he dunked into the water from 150 yards, leading to a double bogey. But not even that dampened Woods’ spirits.
“It’s getting better every week I’ve played,” he insisted. “Just need to keep progressing and hopefully it will peak two more Thursdays from now.”
Another man with Georgia on his mind was Phil Mickelson. The reigning Masters champion hasn’t played well since winning that third green jacket but is feeling confident. He said he was playing far better this year than he was going into last year’s Masters.
“I’m playing a little bit better this year, but I’m not getting the results,” he said. “I feel like the year kind of starts now. It’s an exciting time with the best tournament of the year coming up, and this week here at Arnold Palmer was a terrific way to set the tone.”
Another of the old guard — even though he’s only 31 — spent Sunday smiling and signing autographs, like Woods and Mickelson.
A year ago Sergio Garcia was becoming a cautionary tale. He was burned out. His breakup with Greg Norman’s daughter, Morgan Leigh, had been hard on him and he’d lost all interest in golf, walking away from the game for an extended break.
Now he’s back and, he says, refreshed.
“The good thing is that I want to be out there. I’m enjoying myself,” he said.
A lot different from last year?
“The last two years probably,” he said.
So, is he close to being back?
“I don’t know if I’m close-close,” he said. “I’m getting better and I still need to keep putting myself in this situation, and to try to handle it better every time. The good thing is that I’m able to play well under pressure, hit the right shots and, you know, that means a lot.”
Especially at Augusta.
But the day belonged to Laird, a softly-spoken man who finally has come to see that he belongs out here.
“I’ve probably always lacked a little bit of self-confidence,” he said. “(Now) I realize that I could be one of the best players.”
