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THE BARCLAYS

August 29, 2010

Martin Laird

PARAMUS, NEW JERSEY

THE MODERATOR: Martin, thanks for joining us. I know not the outcome you were looking for, but still all in all, a great week. If you could talk about that and then we'll open it up to questions.
MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, you know, obviously not the finish I was looking for. But I'm very proud of the way I played today. I didn't feel like I had my best game.
And I was kind of battling all day, and probably holed two or three of the biggest putts I've probably ever holed just to be even where I was. And as I said out there, I'm not too upset about my 3-putt on 18 because my first one I didn't think I hit it too hard. I didn't know how fast that putt was, the one on 17 I hit too hard, I knew it as soon as I hit it. But the one on 18, it was a misjudgment on speed. Hit the second putt where I wanted to.
There's a big difference between hitting a good putt and missing and feeling like you pushed it or pulled it.
THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Martin, sometimes if you have a putt to win, it might be a bit easier than having to 2-putt to win in terms of psychologically. You had obviously a lot of time to think about the putt. Just talk us through what was going on on 18 there where you knew -- I'm guessing you knew 2-putts wins?
MARTIN LAIRD: I knew 2-putt was going to win and these greens right now, as you can probably see, are very, very baked out. And the last thing I wanted to do was trickle it down there, leave it three, four feet short and have a 3-, 4-footer down there. Around those holes it's a little sketchy being the last group in the field.
And as I said, I was just, I was trying to stay calm. I felt good. I had obviously holed a big putt on 17. And I had been holing good putts all day. And the first one I was -- I felt like I had it all read and the piece and everything. And as I said, now after seeing Kuchar's ball on the fringe going down to the hole I understand how fast it was. The second one I saw it go left, right past the hole. I thought it was on the way to the hole, on the way back with a nice down speed and the putt just didn't move.

Q. What were your thoughts when you saw Kuchar's approach shot there on the playoff hole?
MARTIN LAIRD: You know, you gotta smile. You can't do anything about that. He had a great shot. It's tough fairway to hit, 18.
And he missed on the right side. You can't miss it right. And I've missed it left I think every day. And then I don't know if it was a little overcorrection, missing it right. But my ball wasn't lined very good. It wasn't like I could try and hit any kind of fancy shot. I was just trying to chop it up the right and hopefully it ran up and took a left turn when it got on the green. But from where I was I knew I was close in the direction but I just didn't know if it was four or five feet or two feet.
And with the way the greens are, you know, at the end of the day with the sun baking them, it was four or five feet, it definitely wasn't a gimmee. I wasn't trying to do anything stupid to knock it in there tight. I was just trying to hit a good shot up to the right and give myself a chance at birdie anyway.

Q. A number of times this year where you've seen guys leading going into Sunday or late on Sunday, not being able to hold the lead. Can you just talk about the psychology of that and whether that's more difficult for you or you prefer to come from behind or just the whole sort of approach to that?
MARTIN LAIRD: I can't really speak for other guys. But today I felt very comfortable. I mean, you look at the way I started. I just about holed my first two shots coming out on 1 and 2.
And on No. 3, I really -- I had a bad layup, every other shot I hit wasn't too bad, made a 7 up there.
It was definitely a little different. I can't say I was out -- I knew when I was warming up, my coach said that Luke Donald had birdied the first six holes. I knew the scores were out there. It wasn't a case of going out and trying to shoot level par and winning the tournament. I knew I had to go out there and play aggressive. I tried to hit driver every hole I could.
And as I said, I putted really well. When I won in Vegas I think it was 1 back. But I wouldn't say I was out there thinking too much about it. I was just trying to stay aggressive and I just came up one short.

Q. You had talked yesterday about what it would have meant to you; does it make it even harder to take because of what the stakes were here?
MARTIN LAIRD: You know, to be honest, I thought it would be a lot more gutted than I am right now. I'm really happy how I played today. As I said, I really didn't have my game going great off the tee especially and I holed a lot of putts out there for par just to stay in the position I was.
So I've never done that before, 3-putted the last tournament, but to be honest, I thought I'd probably be a little more gutted than I am. I'm going to take a lot out of this week and move a lot up in the FedExCup. The way I'm playing, I don't see why I can't be in contention the next few weeks.

Q. Your shot to 18 in regulation, did any part of you think, "Geez, Kuchar's does this and mine doesn't." They were similar shots from a very similar place, slingshotting from the back of the green there.
MARTIN LAIRD: The first time around?

Q. In regulation.
MARTIN LAIRD: Mine was further left than his. His was right of the hole. When you're over in that left rough, it's tough to really judge how it's going to come out. You just gotta chop something along the ground to keep it under the trees. And hope it bounces up there nicely. Mine was further right coming into regulation I might have been four or five feet like Kuchar's. But he had a great shot, and I definitely wasn't thinking, not fair that his did that and mine didn't.

Q. When you're making so many long par putts, is it one of those things where you gain a lot of confidence, or are you thinking, you know, am I living on borrowed time here because you made so many of them today?
MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, I know. I holed a good putt on 10 and 11 for par. 12's one of the hardest tee shots out here for me because right-to-left dogleg. And I probably made my two best swings the day going up 12 after making those two putts. It's definitely not like a panic station. It was -- anytime you're making 20-footers for par to stay in the lead you have to take confidence from that. I stood up on 12 after making two big par putts in a row and a perfect tee shot and holed my second shot. So I definitely wasn't getting down. You have got to build off of that when you're out there.

Q. Could you just sort of relay the emotions of having that one putt in regulation to win the tournament, and just the feelings of that and the nervousness to win the putt to win the tournament?
MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, I know I definitely thought back last year, holed about 10, 11-footer on the last hole in Vegas to get into the playoff. I said to myself, "You've done this before, you can do it again." As I said I've been putting good all day. And I hit it where I wanted to. I would probably be pretty frustrated right now if I had hit a poor putt or pushed or pulled it. I just misread it. I don't know if it bounced or anything but it definitely didn't break and I just hit it outside the hole on right.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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