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THE BARCLAYS SCOTTISH OPENJuly 12, 2009Martin LairdLUSS, SCOTLAND Q. A round of 71 to finish but could have gone horribly wrong given the opening nine but what a fight back on the back nine? MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, to make three sixes on the front side and shot 3-under, I set myself a target at the turn, let's get back to even for the day and 9-under for the tournament minimum. And it was really nice to birdie the last there to do that. Q. You seemed to be really determined out there, it was a wonderful fight back. How important was it for you to showcase your abilities in front of your home crowd? MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, I really wanted to play well this week. As you said, I had to keep my focus today because I didn't play very well and that was about as hard as I've grinded it out in a while. I wanted to play well; I wanted to hopefully chase the leaders today and that wasn't to happen, but I'm pleased with the way I played on the back nine to get it back. Q. And how good do you feel now about the upcoming challenge and The Open at Turnberry? MARTIN LAIRD: I'm excited to get down there. This week I've been focusing on and not thought about next week too much. And now that it's over I'm going to travel down there tonight and probably take a little easy day tomorrow and start getting ready for next week. And I'm going to take a lot of confidence out of this week, because I felt like I played good but not great and finished 10th and that's a good sign my game is in the right direction. Q. Your first professional tournament in Scotland and in Europe, taken a long time to have you over here; you must be delighted to be back and playing well. MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, any time you get to play in front of your home fans, Scottish Open, it pretty much can't get any better for someone coming from half an hour down the road. It was great to come out this week and play well. Q. Will we see more of you now that you're back and people know a bit more about you? I know the diehard would have followed your amateur story, but that's nine, ten years ago. MARTIN LAIRD: I'd love to be able to come back and play more. I just need to go and take care of business on the PGA TOUR first and get my card locked up for next year. And if I can do that over the next month or two, I'd love to come back and play some more events later this year or next year. I've always said, especially tournaments like this, it doesn't get much better than this for me and I would love to be back playing more often. Q. First time back in Scotland playing as a professional, debut in the Scottish Open and top Scot; it's been a pretty good week for you. MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, it's been a fun week. It's always good to come back home, but to come back and play in the Scottish Open and play well, it doesn't get much better. Q. What were your expectations before you came? MARTIN LAIRD: I didn't really set any expectations and set a target where I wanted to finish. I just wanted to come back and play good and show people what I'm capable of, and you know, hopefully maybe I picked up a few more fans coming back this week and playing well, and as I said, I'd love to come back and play some more. I just need to play a little better in America and hopefully I can do that. Q. Midway through the your round -- MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, I was worrying about me, too. We were struggling with the wind and it cost me a few shots and struggling along at 3-over par was not fun, not what we planned for Sunday's round. But pleased with how I came back and shot 3-under on the back. Q. How do you recover from something like that? MARTIN LAIRD: It always helps, too, when you get a few "Come on, Martin" shouts from the crowd. I don't normally get them in America. So it's one benefit of playing over here. I didn't want to come and put myself in that position and end up falling down the leaderboard on Sunday. That was about as motivated as I could be on the back nine to try to shoot under par. Q. What do you think after the week? MARTIN LAIRD: I love this golf course. I love this golf course, love the tournament and it was all run perfectly, as I said, I would love to come back and play again. Q. What needs to happen for that to happen? MARTIN LAIRD: I need to play better in America and get my PGA TOUR card locked up earlier or in a good position where it's looking like I've got that taken care of, and then I can free myself up and come back and play some events over here. Q. Very different conditions and course next week, but mentally, confidence-wise, you must be feeling good. MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, I felt like I played good this week, but not great. I think right now I'm in 10th so, that's a good sign. That's a good sign for the way my game is going and proving to myself that I can compete with everyone out here and if I have a good week next week, that would be a great time back here in two weeks. End of FastScripts |
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