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ABERDEEN ASSET MANAGEMENT SCOTTISH OPENJuly 11, 2012Martin LairdINVERNESS, SCOTLAND MICHAEL GIBBONS: Martin, thanks, as always, for joining us. Welcome to the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open. You're at home in this warm and balmy climate, but get your thoughts on being here this week. MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah. Thanks. Obviously very happy to be here. You know, any time you get to come back and play in Scotland it's great, and obviously to play the Scottish Open, I've never hidden the fact that I have treated it as one of the biggest events of the year for me and I'm looking forward to getting started tomorrow. MICHAEL GIBBONS: You have the support of the fans last year. Three rounds of 70 last year suggests it was not bad. But more to come? MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah. I didn't play great last year here with the conditions, the scores were low. And I don't think ‑‑ if I remember correctly, I didn't putt very well, and hopefully I can change that this year. And I really feel like it's a golf course I can play well on. It sets up well for me. Hopefully the conditions looks like it's not going to be not too windy, and obviously a little softer after all the rain, so I'd say it's probably leaning a little more than I would be more used to than a true hard and fast links course. MICHAEL GIBBONS: (Indiscernible). MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah, you know, I've had a few really good results and just a few that I wish were a little better. It's all really got down to my short game, I'd say this year. I'm really hitting the ball well all year, my short game, my putting has been a little streaky, the weeks I putt very well I have a chance to win and when I don't I'm kind of in the middle of the pack, and that's kind of how it's been going, and it's been a frustrating year in that sense because anyone will tell you when you're hitting it well and not really getting the scores that you feel like you should, it's always a little frustrating, but I know any week that I putt well I'm going to have a chance, so hopefully it'll be this week. MICHAEL GIBBONS: Okay. We'll take some questions. Q. Is it fair to say you've under‑performed in the Open, how important these next weeks are for you to prove something to yourself? MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah. You know, I mean I definitely have under‑performed in the Open, and I have not been happy with my performance there or really all the majors I would say, Augusta. I was just saying to someone yesterday I'm not panicking about it. I don't think there's anything I need to change in my game to do it. I just think it's just the case that I've not played well in the big weeks. Obviously this week is such a great tournament and playing on a good golf course here at Castle Stuart will definitely help me get ready for next week, but I'm not here to do that. I'm here to try and win the Scottish Open. So I'll worry about next week when I get down there. Q. (Indiscernible) schedule last week? MARTIN LAIRD: You know, nothing really in the immediate time. I'm still planning on playing this week and then next week, and then I got a week off and then go over and play the Royal Golf Championship event at Bridgestone and then the PGA Championships and then into the PLAYOFFS in America, and after that I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but as I said, the next few weeks is not change anything. Q. (No microphone). MARTIN LAIRD: I'm not sure about that. Q. Martin, (indiscernible) results with the Ryder Cup coming up. Is there a sense of urgency that you maybe need to string together a few good matches to get your points up? MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah. My next four weeks I've got two majors, the World Golf Championship event and the Scottish Open which I treat as a fifth major for me. So I've got a great stretch to do something, all big events coming up, and I feel if I play well over this stretch, I'll definitely get myself ‑‑ hopefully win one or at least be in contention in a couple and see what happens. Q. (Indiscernible)? MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah. I mean it's not a case of saying ‑‑ like I said, it's not like I start the year, I know I've gotta play well now. I mean it's not really going to change anything for me. I'm trying to play good every week all year. It's not like all of a sudden I need to start playing well. I try my hardest every week and I'm going to keep doing that the next four weeks, and hopefully I play well and get the putter nice and hot these next few weeks and I can be in contention. Q. (No microphone). Is it just the putting? MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah. You know, it's been a bit of everything really. But I mean mostly the putting. I mean that's really what this game's all about is the putting. It doesn't matter how good you hit. I mean I've had good weeks where I've hit good enough to win easily and I finished 30th because you're just not putting great. It's been frustrating, but it's generally been the putting. And the hardest thing for me is I went about a year and a half where I putted really well pretty much, nonstop for a year and a half. And that's kind of been the hard thing is I kind of got used to putting well, and it's been, as I said, a frustrating year this year. But not just that. My overall short game. I don't know really why that is. It's not like I've not been practicing it. It's just kind of happened, and I'm working hard right now to try and get it back. Q. (Indiscernible)? MARTIN LAIRD: No, not really. I know what I've been doing for the last couple years works, because as I said, I went for about a year and a half where seems like every week I putted well. I still believe in what I'm doing. It's just a little spell. Q. How difficult is it to make the transition? You're playing in the States one minute and you're across here the next. How difficult is that when you're crossing the Atlantic back and forth? MARTIN LAIRD: I'm so used to traveling back and forth. You know, I don't really ‑‑ I don't come to this tournament and think it's going to hurt me or anything like that. You know, it's nice to be over here and play a couple in a row. I think if you're playing ‑‑ if I played last week in America and over here for one and then back over there, then it would be. But I ended up not playing last week, and then over here for two weeks, so I don't think it really makes a difference to me at all. Q. Two questions. First of all, do you think the fact that the links courses are so soft, it's perhaps going to play (indiscernible) and next week, obviously in America fits guys like yourself? MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah. Definitely if we come over here, and myself, speaking for myself, if I come over here and know it's going to be real windy and play like a links course, like you kind of wish it would, because that's the way it's supposed to play, it would definitely take a little more of a change in my game to get used to, especially around the greens. That's where it really counts. So I think it does help me a little bit. You know, I don't know what it's going to be like next week. I'm assuming it's not going to be overly firm then either. So you might see a few more guys that ‑‑ or some of them that play in America are used to a little softer conditions than links golf makes them play well here. Q. Secondly, what's your guilty pleasure when you come back to Scotland? MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah. I had a few cans of that, and a little black pudding in the morning for breakfast is always good, too. But yeah, no, I would definitely say that's it. Q. Do Yankees have any idea what black pudding is? MARTIN LAIRD: No. They have no clue and you tell them and they turn their nose up at it. Q. Martin, spots on the PGA TOUR at the moment. Do the guys get your opinion whether they should come over and play or not (indiscernible)? MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah. A couple of guys emailed, not too many but a few guys definitely have asked me, and I always tell them you'll have a great time. Come over, it's a great golf course. It's an excellent‑run tournament. It's one of the best‑run tournaments we play all year, and it's just a shame last year with the weather probably put a few people off. But I do ask the question every once in a while and try and get as many of the top players if they want to come over to come over. And I think get a few good years on links courses for Scottish Open would really help and maybe see more of the top guys coming over. Q. And I have to ask you, the Trump, you played a few holes here yesterday. Your thoughts on that and could you see hosting a TOUR event in the near future? MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah. I played the first 10 holes yesterday before I had to leave, and yeah, it's a spectacular golf course. It's definitely challenging enough for a tournament, and I played off the back tees nearly every one of those holes, and it's got plenty of length and it's a top golf course. It's not really playing like a links course right now. It's so new, it's really soft and the grass is pretty long. But you can see it could easily set up to be a challenging tournament course, and we'll just have to wait and see, but in terms of the golf course, I don't see why not. Q. If do you find that you have to play another European Tour event, will you schedule to squeeze one in to qualify? MARTIN LAIRD: Well, you know, a lot of that also depends ‑‑ I mean obviously I'll have to find out, but you know, my schedule, I have one week of a gap. There's only one week there that I've got ‑‑ I'm not going to not play a major or, you know, World Golf Championships next week after. The week after the Open I have a gap and then a friend's wedding, it's one of my best friends, so I'm not going to miss that. And then the only other week I guess would be the week before the PLAYOFFS start in America. So it obviously all depends how I play here the next couple of weeks whether that's something I would have to look at. But there's not really ‑‑ there's not much time left before the selection. Q. (No microphone)? MARTIN LAIRD: Late during the season. You obviously have to look at that. After the PLAYOFFS I've really not decided what I'm going to do. So as I said, I don't know. I'm sure I could fit one in if that was the case. Q. (Indiscernible). MARTIN LAIRD: Well, yeah. I'm an affiliate member this year, you know, so I've always said playing in both tours is something I would definitely like to look at once I'm in the position that I can ‑‑ Top 50 in the world and play all the World Golf Championships and the majors. So it's definitely something I would definitely be looking at. I would obviously like to keep it, yeah. Q. You mentioned Trump golf course. You've now settled into North Carolina. Does that benefit your game? Do you find yourself practicing more? MARTIN LAIRD: Yeah. The course I joined in North Carolina, after I joined he ended up buying it. So it's now a Trump property. It's a great golf course, and it's not really that the golf course that obviously is helping my game. Living on the East Coast has helped. I'm traveling not nearly as much. Used to every couple of weeks I have a five‑hour connection through Phoenix. Now we can go home in an hour, hour and a half any time and drive to a couple of tournaments, so that definitely helps. And three‑hour time change from West Coast to East Coast I used to have to deal with every couple of weeks. I don't have that any more. It's definitely more relaxing living on the East Coast and the travel is a lot easier, which I think makes me a little more refreshed when I get to tournaments. Q. (Indiscernible)? MARTIN LAIRD: Never played it, no. Never played the golf course. Q. Have you talked to people about it at all? MARTIN LAIRD: The only person that's really said to me when I played at the BMW with Rory, he said he thought it was a good golf course and he thought it would suit me. You know, I don't know why he said that or what's the reasoning, but I'm excited to get down there. I've only heard good things about it, so hopefully get down there and get a good week. MICHAEL GIBBONS: Martin has an appointment, so I think we'll end it there. Thank you. MARTIN LAIRD: Thank you very much. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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