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JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE SHRINERS HOSPITALS FOR CHILDREN OPENOctober 23, 2010Martin LairdLAS VEGAS, NEVADA MARTIN LAIRD: I was excited to get back. So far the last couple days obviously have been very nice. Holed a lot of putts the last couple days. The first round I probably hit it just as good if not better than these last two days and just made absolutely nothing. But it's been a good three days, and even after only shooting 2-under the first day, I was pretty confident that I could post three low ones in a row to get back in contention. I maybe didn't think I'd post 17-under the next two rounds, but I'm pleased obviously where I am and I'm looking forward to tomorrow. Q. (Indiscernible.) MARTIN LAIRD: You know, you can't protect on this golf course, which I think it helps you as a leader. There's a lot of courses you know if you go out and shoot even par or 1-under you know you'll go out and win the tournament if you have the lead, but this is definitely not one of them, so the word protect doesn't come into any use at all around this golf course, especially with the greens being soft after the rain. I know I'm just going to have to keep firing away. I don't know an exact number, but probably shoot 5-under maybe, 5-, 6-, 7-under minimum to win, because I wouldn't be surprised if someone that's one or two back shoots a 7-, 8-, 9-under chasing me down, and that's what I'm going to go out tomorrow and do, just do what I've been doing the last couple days, keep hitting driver pretty much everywhere and attacking the flags. Q. (Indiscernible.) MARTIN LAIRD: No, it's completely different because last year I hadn't really -- it was probably the best chance I've had to date to win a tournament, and I was 134th or something on the Money List, so it was -- there was a lot more pressure on me last year than this year. But I'll probably still be a little nervous out there at the start. I think anyone who has the lead is. But definitely a little more relaxed week than last year knowing that I've had a good year so far and I don't have to worry about playing to keep my card. Q. (Indiscernible.) MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, 15, the eagle. I've hit two great drives there the first two rounds right in the middle of the green. Yesterday I think I hit it to about ten feet for eagle and missed that one for eagle. You but today it was a back left pin, and I knew a nice little solid driver would have a chance to get back there, and I hit it really good and it never really left the flagstick, and it was nice to get up there and see that it got up there about six feet. I really left myself the easiest putt on the green; it was right-edge, up-the-hill putt. That's the one most of us would want if we had six feet for eagle. Q. (Indiscernible.) MARTIN LAIRD: Then 16, I knew that the ball -- if I hit a good drive down there, I could have easily -- from the fairway I could have had 7- or 6-iron in. That was the only bad drive I hit all day, missed it right in the trees. It went right in the trees. My ball was lying good enough to go for the green still. I only had a 7-iron because it was a flier lie, and I just caught it a little -- it was fluffy rough. Just caught it a little high on the club face and didn't make it over the water. It wasn't a very good shot. It wasn't that hard a golf shot. And then I dropped it and hit it in there to about 15, 20 feet and made a nice putt to save par. Q. (Indiscernible.) MARTIN LAIRD: Something like that, yeah, for par, and that was a good one. Yeah, it was a big one. There's some momentum. Sometimes those big par saves are more important than a 15-footer for birdie because it keeps your -- I hadn't had a bogey in a while and really didn't want to start, and that was probably one of the easier holes on the golf course. Q. (Indiscernible.) MARTIN LAIRD: No, I mean, 17, I hit a good shot in there and a good putt. I played the last two holes really good. I wasn't too worried about it. It was kind of the first shot all day that I had a bit of a squirrelly lie in the rough and just didn't really come out very good. I wasn't too worried about it. Q. (Indiscernible.) MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, definitely. The balls are actually finally bouncing now on the fairways as opposed to kind of just splatting. But no, the greens are still soft, the fairways are running, so you're getting 10, 15 yards of run that you weren't getting the last two days. And also the weather; it warmed up a little bit today and it was a nice clear day so the ball was flying plenty far. Q. (Indiscernible.) MARTIN LAIRD: No, no, yesterday when it was raining especially the ball was going nowhere. Q. (Indiscernible.) MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, I find there's a few holes out here, especially off the tee it really sets up good for me. There's probably three or four holes out there that I can fly the bunkers off the tee, and maybe there's only a handful of guys in the field that can do it. Like No. 9, for example, the bunker today at 9, if I hit a good one, I can fly it, and that makes that drive in there a lot bigger. Same on No. 2. That's kind of why I hit a lot of drivers, because though you don't really have to for the length of the holes, it actually gets a little wider if I can fly the bunkers. Q. (Indiscernible.) MARTIN LAIRD: You know, I actually really, really struggled off the tee for the BMW Championship and the TOUR Championship at East Lake. I played terrible at TOUR Championship because I just couldn't -- I couldn't find a fairway to save myself. And then I went over to the Dunhill Links in St. Andrews and drove the ball pretty good. I wasn't driving it great at the start of the week, but my coach Mark McCann noticed a little thing and gave me a little tip to solve it. I was hitting them left, I solved that, and ever since Tuesday when he mentioned that, I've been driving it great. It's just keeping the club head outside my hands a little bit more on the way back. It was my backswing. The club head was getting a little too far inside on the way back. It was just make sure I keep the club head outside my hands on the way back for a little longer. That was all it was, and ever since then I've been driving it great. Q. (Indiscernible.) MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, it has been a good year or a good second half of the year. My first half of the year up until about July was pretty pathetic to be honest and I've played really well since then. It all goes down to my short game and holing some putts finally. But yeah, any year you can get a win obviously will take a good year to a great year, and hopefully I can do that tomorrow. Q. How motivated are you after what happened in the playoff? MARTIN LAIRD: You know, obviously I wouldn't say I'm any extra motivated after what happened there. That was another tournament that was kind of done with. But any time you have a chance to win you're obviously going to -- you don't really have to worried about getting motivated. But that was one of the strongest fields of the year on a really hard golf course, and you know, I hung in there well all day. I really didn't have my best game. I'm hitting the ball a lot better this week than I did that week. I drove the ball pretty poorly all week there at the Barclays to be honest. Even with what I felt like was my B or C game from tee to green, I managed to scrape it round and nearly win the tournament. It obviously gives myself a lot of confidence, and I know when there's a week like this, a week when I'm hitting it good, if I keep making putts I'll be hard to beat. Q. (Indiscernible.) MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, you know, I don't think one-hit wonders, but first-time winners, yeah. Obviously I would like to end that run because that means that I would have picked up another trophy, and it's such a great tournament for such a great cause. It's extra special if you can win a tournament that's for such a great cause, so hopefully that would be nice if that happened tomorrow. Q. (Indiscernible.) MARTIN LAIRD: Any time you shoot 62 you've got to feel pretty good after it. I was just pleased to finally make some putts, because as I said, I hit it just as good on Thursday as I did on Friday, just made nothing, so it was nice to see the ball go in the hole. I've started to get a little more comfortable with the speed of the greens as the week has gone on and putted nicely again today, so hopefully keep that up tomorrow. End of FastScripts |
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