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THE BARCLAYS SCOTTISH OPEN

July 9, 2009

Martin Laird

LUSS, SCOTLAND

SCOTT CROCKETT: Martin, thanks for coming in and joining us, as always. Congratulations on a fantastic opening round, a chip-in, eagle, your parents and grandparents, it was all happening out there, just give us your thoughts on a very good day.
MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, obviously a dream start for me. It was one of those days. I talked about how much work I needed to be good this week to have a chance and my short game was as good as it's been all year. A couple of chip-ins, it's nice to chip in on the second hole, the par 3. Chipped and putted well. But my irons were not very good, so it was a round where I felt I got a lot out of a round I didn't hit very many good iron shots.
When I missed greens, I missed them in the right spots to get them up-and-down. The other chip-in was 16. That wasn't very far, I had a perfect angle in and hit a pretty good second shot and missed the green left and I think the pin was only about four from the left and just went in the front edge which was nice to see.
SCOTT CROCKETT: A good start and a dream finish, as well.
MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, No. 8 I holed a nice putt, a 9-iron 30 feet left of the pin and made that. And then 9 I hit a shot ten feet above the hole. I thought that I missed but it caught low on the left side.

Q. Were you nervous?
MARTIN LAIRD: I was a little nervous. I probably was a little more nervous than normal. I'm always excited to start tournaments, so it was obviously that. I would say more yesterday was the day that was killing me. I couldn't wait to play today and I couldn't really go to sleep last night. I was ready to go, and once I got out here and started warming up, I had a nice warm up and I was excited and ready to go.

Q. Who was here?
MARTIN LAIRD: My mom and dad, my girlfriend, grandma and grandma, my uncle, a guy who sponsors me Colorado came out, my agent, and a few other people I knew.

Q. As well as being excited, is there a sense of being eager to show people here your capabilities? You had an invitation and you had not played here before and you've done fine in America, but people don't really know you. Was part of that good round today a reward for wanting to show people what you can actually do?
MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't say I came over here with the mind-set, I'm going to go over there and show everyone how good I'm. That's not really what I came over here for.
I knew I could play well and I wanted to come over and hopefully play as well as I could and see where I finished. I've said the last few weeks, my game is getting closer, and I've had rounds where I feel like I played really well and got nothing out of them. That was pretty much it last week at Washington; didn't play today as well as some of the rounds last week, but nothing is better than these rounds where you feel like you're not playing as good as you can and you still get a good score.

Q. How did playing in front of a Scottish gallery compare to what you normally have in the States?
MARTIN LAIRD: It was nice. Got a few "Come on Martin" chants and stuff like that. There's a few people you notice, like my grandma and grandma, my uncle have never seen me play. So it was good playing in front of them and to play well. Didn't come all the way over to watch me struggle.

Q. What actually was your last tournament in Europe?
MARTIN LAIRD: I've never played in Europe before.

Q. As an amateur then?
MARTIN LAIRD: Would have been in 2003. I honestly can't remember. I think it was maybe the home international nationals -- came back and played the home internationals at Ballybunion. I think that was the last time I played over here.

Q. This week doesn't count for your PGA TOUR Money List. Does that take some pressure off you?
MARTIN LAIRD: Maybe a little. I guess I've not had one thought this week, I need to play well to help my ranking, help my position in the PGA TOUR Money List or the FedExCups I guess. Not having those thoughts this week, you're probably right a little by. I'm trying to treat it just like every other tournament, but I would say maybe you are right.

Q. You are in contention now; are you thinking about it, Sunday?
MARTIN LAIRD: I mean, we're a long way from Sunday. I got lucky today. It was absolutely perfect. Just the last few holes the breeze picked up. That was about as good as you're going to get the golf course, or as easy as you're going to get the golf course; the greens are good in the morning.
And I'm not thinking about Sunday yet. I'm just pleased to be in a good position after one round, and hopefully just sharpen up my iron game and I'll be in even better position come Sunday.

Q. Since you became a PGA TOUR member, what would you single out, up until now, as your best week when you played the best golf and when you thought you got the most out of yourself?
MARTIN LAIRD: I would say probably my best week last year was maybe when I finished fourth at the Wyndham Championship when I had the first round lead. And then I called a two-shot penalty on myself on Friday and shot 74 and ended up make the cut on the number, and shot 15-under on the weekend and finished fourth. I went from leading to dead last to finishing fourth.
That was probably the one week last year I didn't was like, you know, I beat everybody else by five or six shots over three rounds, shot a 74, and still managed to finish fourth. That's the one that I took the most confidence from last year.

Q. What are you doing away from the course this week? Are you staying with family?
MARTIN LAIRD: We've got a lodge down at Cameron House and my girlfriend is staying there, and my parents came over yesterday and had dinner there which is nice, my mom cooking dinner and stayed down and chatted and they stayed the night. They are going to be here all week now. It's nice and relaxing. We didn't really do too much. I took a little sleep yesterday afternoon after a bit of a late night Tuesday night, seeing my friends in Glasgow. Yeah, just trying to take it easy and catch up with my parents.

Q. Did you ever come to this tournament as a spectator at all?
MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, I think I came twice, maybe three years. I definitely came a couple times. I know the first time I saw the golf course, I used to love coming and watching. The tournament has always had a great field and I knew I would see a bunch of the guys I see on TV and idolised at a kid.

Q. When you first aspired you to be a pro, would you have thought your career path would have taken you the way it's taken you to get to Europe to play your first tournament as a pro?
MARTIN LAIRD: When I first turned pro, I didn't have a set career path. I didn't really have a goal. I just wanted to play golf for money and see how I did. I didn't know if I would be good enough and when I turned pro. I'm fortunate to be back here this week. It's probably the most fun I've had on the golf course in a long time.
SCOTT CROCKETT: Martin, many congratulations and good luck tomorrow.

End of FastScripts

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