	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

FARMERS INSURANCE OPEN

February 6, 2015

Martin Laird

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA

Q. Here with Martin Laird. Great play last week now traveling to southern California, second consecutive 68 today. What do you see in your game that has helped you play as well as you have the last few weeks?
MARTIN LAIRD: My short game's probably the biggest thing that has improved since last year. I'm scrambling real well. Apart from that, my iron game, I really haven't driven it great the first two rounds, but the fairways I hit, I hit some nice shots and made a couple of eagles and a bunch of birdies. So, hopefully this next two rounds on the South Course I can drive it a little straighter, because I don't think I'll get away with three rounds on the South Course driving it in the rough. So, I need to work on that and straighten it up.

Q. You had one of the better rounds on the South Course this week, a 68 yesterday. What are the things that you have to do well and you have to avoid to have success on the South Course this weekend?
MARTIN LAIRD: You got to get in the fairway and if you don't you got to be able to muscle a 6-iron or a 5-iron from about 190 yards on a lot of those holes. The greens are firm down there and each green's like three or four little greens in itself with the kind of tiering, so you got to be able to hit it high and stop it. That's one of the reasons I like the golf course. That's my ball flight, I hit it about as high as anyone and I feel like can I go for a few flags on that golf course that some people maybe can't. If I can get it in the fairway tomorrow and play aggressive, it's going to take a couple more good rounds, it's a golf course that's maybe not going to go 15-, 16-under, but it's surely going to go a few more under.

Q. Let's talk about it. Your play continues to be great. Very solid last week and now today. You're in a good trend right now.
MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, playing nicely. Enjoying my golf. It's easy to enjoy it when you're playing well. I feel like pretty much all my game's in pretty good shape. This is one of my favorite courses, if not my favorite course to play all year, the South Course here. So I've been looking forward to this for a while and it's nice to play well.

Q. Your iron play has been great, but your short game. Last week we called you the magician and you're still playing well in that area.
MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, it's probably more important this week than last week to have a good short game around here. Because even if you're playing great you're not going to hit every fairway and you're going to have to scramble around these golf courses. I putted nicely on the South, which you have to do. Made a couple nice ones. Hopefully it continues. But it's all about getting it in the fairway around there and hopefully I can get in the fairway and have a chance to go at some flags tomorrow.

Q. You let one get away last week, do you think maybe this is the week for you, maybe it will happen this week?
MARTIN LAIRD: Here's hoping. I feel like I let one get away last week, obviously. I was in a great position, didn't manage to get it done. But we'll see. I think I'm a couple back right now. So a slightly different position, so it's a nice spot to be in, right in the mix. And if I get a chance on Sunday, hopefully I can close it out.

Q. You said this is one of your, the South Course is probably your favorite course that you see all year on TOUR?
MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah.

Q. How come? Why is that?
MARTIN LAIRD: I mean just look the other side of this wall and look outside. You don't get a better golf course, scenery-wise. And then it really tests every aspect of your game. You got to drive it, you got to hit your mid long and short irons good and then you got to scramble because even if you are playing well you're going to miss some greens around here. You can't get away with hiding around here, you really just got to play well. But for me, I don't know why it is, there's a lot of holes that suit my eye. I just like it. I would say it is my favorite.

Q. You mentioned that scrambling and putting were really a focus for you during the off season. What did you do to improve specifically?
MARTIN LAIRD: Practiced a lot. My short game there was a couple little technique things we did with may coach to get a little bit softer hands around the greens. A little more consistent chipping. But apart from that, just a lot of hard work, focused more on the short game probably than I would normally, and that's probably about it.

Q. Are you the kind of guy who would look back at last week and think, boy, I let that one get away; or, oh, I'm playing really well and I had a chance to win that tournament?
MARTIN LAIRD: Both. I'm playing really well and I let one get away. So you got to learn from it and it's not -- I let one get away in terms of I had a three shot lead, but it's not like I was standing on the 18th tee and had a three shot lead and let it get away. So in that sense I hung in there, I was leading the golf tournament from probably about the 30th hole until the 70th hole almost. So you got to take a lot of positives out of that. I was the guy out front and everyone was trying to catch me and someone caught me. That's kind of how I look at it. It's hard to win out here, it's not -- there's plenty of leads get blown. And I would say I would look at it both. You got to -- obviously, I was disappointed, but by Monday night, Tuesday morning, I was well over that and looking forward to being here this week.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297