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WGC CADILLAC CHAMPIONSHIP

March 11, 2011

Martin Laird

MIAMI, FLORIDA

Q. To be in now, how do you feel about the weekend coming up now?
MARTIN LAIRD: Looking forward to it, being in a good position the first couple of rounds. I felt I've been playing good for a while and it's nice to have a good couple good rounds going into the weekends.

Q. At the start of today's round, I described you on television as kind of an under the radar guy, because while we are all media obsessed with the marquis groups, the 1,2,3 in the world, you were moving around quietly; is that the way you do things?
MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, it's kind of been the way it has, and has been since I came over here in 2000 to go to college in America. It's kind of easier in a way when you just kind of sneak under the radar and you don't have people asking for interviews all the time or whatever and you just quietly go about your business.
But as I said, I've been playing good for a while, and I'm looking forward to this weekend and hopefully maybe a few more people know me after this weekend.

Q. Having said that, the expectations begin to build eventually at the start of each year; has this year become different in your mind about what you want to and have to achieve?
MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, definitely coming into this year, the way I finished last year, really it was []mostly about getting confidence in myself. I really started to believe that I could be a Top-10 player in the world, and you know, coming out this year, knowing I'm a real slow starter, I've had some good tournaments so far this year, which is encouraging because I normally don't do well before July, so it's nice to play well early. And places like this, I never used to play well in Florida on bermudagrass.
Wind blowing like this, being in America for ten years, hoping to go out this weekend and play well.

Q. Still got good connections to home?
MARTIN LAIRD: Definitely. I love going back whenever I can. Don't go back enough but hopefully get back to it three or four times this year and play some golf.

Q. Different kind of day as far as scoring is concerned can you talk about that?
MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, yesterday we were talking about it. It's as easy as you'll ever get it in Florida, pretty much no wind and soft greens because of the rain and then today, the golf course was a different animal. The greens are firming up and getting a little faster and obviously the wind has been a steady strength all day, and you know, it makes a lot of these holes, we were talking about the so-called easier dog-leg holes that are not that long and also become tough with crosswinds. It's a totally different golf course.

Q. Can you specifically talk about some of the holes that were very different like 18? Imagine played a lot shorter?
MARTIN LAIRD: 18 was a lot easier. A hole like, I think 14, the wind is blowing right-to-left and in, and it's just not that tough a hole. The other days you can almost take it over the left corner. I think in the first round I hit sand wedge in and then today I just missed my drive a little bit and hit 7-iron in. That shows you the difference, the difference from this morning to this afternoon -- sorry. Yesterday to today.

Q. Your playing partner who obviously does not speak English, obviously a very tough night and a tough day; can you communicate at all about how he feels about what was going on in Japan? I assume you know about that?
MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, you don't ever want to see those things anywhere. It wasn't a nice way to start the day, get up and see that.
You obviously feel for all of those people. He doesn't speak much English as you say, but I'm sure his mind was not really on the golf tournament today. You can't really blame him for it at all.

Q. You're from Scotland but you're Americanized; so how do you feel about wind?
MARTIN LAIRD: It's one of those things, obviously when I came over to America ten years ago, I was used to playing in the wind all the time and then I got away from it and I really struggled playing in the wind for a few years. I ended up going from a real low ball flight to one of the highest ball flights on TOUR.
And not until the last two or three years when my swing got a little better and started to be able to control my ball flight a little better, that's half the reason I started to play better and moved up in the World Rankings and things like that, days like today I would have really struggled just two or three years ago and today I felt pretty comfortable out there.

Q. Do you feel good about your position and the way you're playing?
MARTIN LAIRD: Obviously this is a golf course, if the wind keeps blowing, no one is going to run away. As good as Hunter is playing, it's not the type of course he is going to keep pulling away you would think.
So any time you're in or around the mix, a couple of days to go, it's a good tournament, especially when it's on such a good golf course and such a good field as this.

Q. Different kind of day as far as scoring is concerned can you talk about that?
MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, yesterday we were talking about it. It's as easy as you'll ever get it in Florida, pretty much no wind and soft greens because of the rain and then today, the golf course was a different animal. The greens are firming up and getting a little faster and obviously the wind has been a steady strength all day, and you know, it makes a lot of these holes, we were talking about the so-called easier dog-leg holes that are not that long and also become tough with crosswinds. It's a totally different golf course.

Q. Can you specifically talk about some of the holes that were very different like 18? Imagine played a lot shorter?
MARTIN LAIRD: 18 was a lot easier. A hole like, I think 14, the wind is blowing right-to-left and in, and it's just not that tough a hole. The other days you can almost take it over the left corner. I think in the first round I hit sand wedge in and then today I just missed my drive a little bit and hit 7-iron in. That shows you the difference, the difference from this morning to this afternoon -- sorry. Yesterday to today.

Q. Your playing partner who obviously does not speak English, obviously a very tough night and a tough day; can you communicate at all about how he feels about what was going on in Japan? I assume you know about that?
MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, you don't ever want to see those things anywhere. It wasn't a nice way to start the day, get up and see that.
You obviously feel for all of those people. He doesn't speak much English as you say, but I'm sure his mind was not really on the golf tournament today. You can't really blame him for it at all.

Q. You're from Scotland but you're Americanized; so how do you feel about wind?
MARTIN LAIRD: It's one of those things, obviously when I came over to America ten years ago, I was used to playing in the wind all the time and then I got away from it and I really struggled playing in the wind for a few years. I ended up going from a real low ball flight to one of the highest ball flights on TOUR.
And not until the last two or three years when my swing got a little better and started to be able to control my ball flight a little better, that's half the reason I started to play better and moved up in the World Rankings and things like that, days like today I would have really struggled just two or three years ago and today I felt pretty comfortable out there.

Q. Do you feel good about your position and the way you're playing?
MARTIN LAIRD: Obviously this is a golf course, if the wind keeps blowing, no one is going to run away. As good as Hunter is playing, it's not the type of course he is going to keep pulling away you would think.
So any time you're in or around the mix, a couple of days to go, it's a good tournament, especially when it's on such a good golf course and such a good field as this.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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