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BMW PGA CHAMPIONSHIPMay 23, 2012Martin LairdVIRGINIA WATER, ENGLAND MICHAEL GIBBONS: Martin, good morning, and welcome to the BMW PGA Championship. Start us off with your thoughts on the week and making your debut at Wentworth. Are you looking forward to it? MARTIN LAIRD: Definitely. It's one of the tournaments I used to always watch on TV and always wanted to play this course. Very happy to be here and especially when the sun is shining like it is right now. MICHAEL GIBBONS: Indeed. What are your sort of memories of it looking back? MARTIN LAIRD: I just remember watching in the when the World Match Play used to be here. I always remember the last few holes, anything can happen over the last few holes, the two par 5s to finish. The front nine I played on Monday. Front nine I didn't really recognise that many holes because you don't normally see them on telly, but I remember watching some great matches in The Match Play around here. MICHAEL GIBBONS: Give us an update on your own game. MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, coming off a good week two weeks ago in America. Obviously brought me a lot of confidence. I've been saying for about the last month or more than a month I've actually been playing well, just not scoring any good. It's nice the last two weeks to finally have a couple of good results and actually get some scores up there when I feel like I've been playing that way for a while. Q. While you're here, will you have any plans to talk to José Maria? MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, hopefully. I got an e‑mail from him last week or the week before I e‑mailed him back and said, I know you have a busy week this week and hopefully we can have a coffee or lunch or at least a five‑minute chat at some point this week. I wanted to talk to him to let him know that making the team is something I want to do. It's one of the main reasons I'm back; it's not the only reason, but it's one of the main reasons I'm coming back and playing events like this. I'm coming back in the summer, playing The French Open the week before The Scottish Open. I'm going to ask him if there's anything else I can do to improve my chances. Q. What was the nub of his e‑mail to you? Was it standard or personalised? MARTIN LAIRD: It was a standard one, about fittings this week. It wasn't a direct e‑mail to me, but it was a good way to get back to him and hopefully I'll get to catch up with him this week. Q. You proved you that you can go abroad and succeed. When you're playing in America, do you ever try and get some of their guys to come over here and play in this, which is our big event? MARTIN LAIRD: You know, any time I'm ever asked by one of the PGA TOUR guys, American guys mostly, about coming over here, I always tell them they should. I don't really get asked questions about this event. I get questions about The Scottish Open. I tell them it's a great event, one of the best events you'll play, and you should definitely come back if you're thinking about it. I guess because I'm Scottish, they think I don't know much about this event; and also, I've never played this event. So it wasn't really my place to say because I've never been here. Any time they do ask, I always tell them they should come back. They will have a good time. Q. Is it important for players to be able to prove themselves across the world? MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, I think so. You know, you don't ever want to be labelled one of those players that can only play in a certain country or a certain type of golf. You know, if you want to ‑‑ nowadays, golf is such a worldwide game, if you want to get to the top of the World Rankings and be considered one of the best players in the world, you have to play all over the world. You can't just hide out and play well in one country or one type of golf course. You have to be able to play on all types of golf courses in all types of climates. Q. A pretty kind of crude question. The top three players in the world here, Rory has won, Luke has won and Lee; who do you think is the best player of the three, or is it a bit more sophisticated than that? MARTIN LAIRD: I've never played with Rory, but I'm paired with him this week, so obviously I'm excited about that. I played with Lee and Luke both a few times now. You know, it's a tough call. There's a reason all three of them are right up there next to each other. I don't think one of them is hands down better than the other two. I think they are all‑‑ as I said, there is a reason they are all so close. You know, Rory obviously is the youngest one; so he's still got a few years to improve, a few more years to improve on them. I mean, I'm not just saying that to not pick one. I really do think it is a tough call. As I said, I think the World Rankings do a good job and they really are‑‑ as close as they are, is for the reason that their games are that close. All three of them, it seems like every week, they are up there in contention. That's what you have to be if you want to be up there. Q. Just following on from your comments about being a global player and also from what Luke Donald was saying at the dinner last night where he was basically saying that by playing a global schedule as you have to do on The European Tour, it makes you a more complete player. Do you feel now that you have the opportunity to play both tours, that is one of the big benefits available to you? MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, definitely, as I said, it is such a global game; and you go to Asia and you play in different grass than you play anywhere else. As Luke obviously said, all of those things are going to make you a better player. When I first went to America, I couldn't chip over there. I just couldn't play in that grass; struggled. Until the last couple of years, I really struggled on bermudagreens. I never played well on bermuda courses, and now I've kind of matured a little bit in terms of that and now I can play on bermuda golf courses. I think in general that makes me a better player because I can go to any course now and feel like I can contend, where I would have admitted three years ago if there was a big tournament on a bermuda golf course like THE PLAYERS, I wouldn't have a chance because I couldn't chip on them, and really struggled with putting. Obviously the more you travel and things like that, the more you're going to be playing on different types of golf courses, and that can only make you a better player. Q. The implication there is if you stick to the PGA TOUR there is danger of being somewhat one‑dimensional; is that fair? MARTIN LAIRD: I don't know about that one, because we play all different types of golf courses on the PGA TOUR. As I say, we play bermudagrass and we play all different types of golf courses. And then now with the World Golf Championships events in Asia and things; I've now been over to Asia a few times, you know, you can play on the PGA TOUR and not play a full European Tour schedule I think and still play worldwide golf if you know what I mean; you know, come back and like me, play in this event here and things like that. It's no secret, The European Tour plays all over the world a lot more than the PGA TOUR; so you are obviously going to get more experience playing in different countries and different courses. Nowadays with all of the big events in Asia and things, I feel like you can travel, even if you are playing the PGA TOUR. Q. You talked about the top three and how close they are to each other. What would you have to do with your game to get to their level? MARTIN LAIRD: Be a lot more consistent. I think that's really the only thing that is different between me, and I'm sure a lot of the other guys, that are kind of around my ranking. I feel like when I'm playing well and on my game, I'm as good as them; it's just they seem to perform like that nearly every week, or most weeks. And that's really the big thing. And for that, I think you know, it's not‑‑ I wouldn't just point to one aspect of my game. I think every aspect of my game needs to just get a little more consistent. Probably my short game, that's one thing playing with Luke over the years on Tour, even days where he struggles a little bit, his short game is so good he still manages to get around with a good score and that's really what holds you together on those weeks where you're struggling a little bit. Q. You rejoined The European Tour to be eligible for The Ryder Cup. Have you thought longer than that? What happens next year? MARTIN LAIRD: No, I have not. I'm just thinking about this year. You know, hopefully I play well enough this year to make that Ryder Cup Team and then the end of the year I'll evaluate and see what I want to do next year. I enjoy coming back here and playing‑‑ well, I've not really had much experience coming back. But The Scottish Open is always a great one, and I've had a great week here so far, and it is something I think I would enjoy if I came back and played more. But as I said, I'm concentrating on this year and I've not really thought ahead. Q. Have you played with Ernie Els before? MARTIN LAIRD: I've never played with Ernie, either. So those are probably the two guys at the top of the rankings that you would say‑‑ or big names in the game that I have not played with. No, I was excited when I saw my pairing. It will be a fun couple of days. I'm sure we'll have a nice crowd and looks like nice weather. Hopefully it will be a great couple of days. MICHAEL GIBBONS: Martin, we wish you all the best with that. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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