Laird clinches place on 2009

United States PGA Tour

Former Scottish youth champion Martin Laird clinched his place on the 2009 United States PGA Tour by the skin of his teeth.
The Glasgow man started the final event of the tour, the Children's Miracle Network in Disneyland, Lake Buena Vista, Florida, in 126th place, needing to improve by at least one spot to guarantee he would retain his playing rights next year.
And he did it with a final round of 71, holing from just under 8ft on the last green, for 13-under-par 275, even though the player in 125th place in the money table at the start of the tournament, Jeff Overton, finished on the same mark as Laird for joint 21st place and earned the same pay-out: $49,680.

Incidentally, the 25-year-old Overton had his appendix removed only three weeks ago. So, a very brave effort by him.
Overton improved to 118th place in the final money table, while Laird moved up one to 125th place with season's earnings of $852,792.

Davis Love, a long time out of the limelight, scored his 20th US Tour win with a 25-under-par total of 263, earning himself lifetime exemption from pre-qualifying for any future US Tour event.

Love is still remembered in Scotland for his derogatory remarks (which he later denied saying) about Carnoustie and Paul Lawrie in the immediate aftermath of the Aberdonian's memorable 1999 Open championship victory.

The Press Corps showed just as much interest, if not more, in the battle to finish in the top 125 than they did Davis Love's victory.

For example, on the 18th green early Sunday afternoon, Martin Laird was only 7 feet, 10 inches, from the hole, knowing that if he holed it, he had made and if he missed it, he was headed for the Qualifying School.

More members of the media were standing behind the 18th green to witness Laird’s dramatics than Love’s about an hour later.“It wasn’t very exciting for me,” said Laird, half shaking, half joking, after rolling in his final putt of the year.

“I don’t know (how far) it was on the last, but it felt like a long way.”Laird started the week 126th on the money list, opened with rounds of 68-66 and then said he started to develop expectations of a top-10 finish.

Instead, he shot 70-71 on the weekend to join Overton in a tie for 21st and finish the year right at No. 125.

“That was not fun out there today,” said Laird, “but I managed to pull through.”

The final four holes of Disney’s Magnolia course, which Laird played Sunday in one over par, are also four of its toughest, which means there were plenty of chances to lose your lunch down the stretch Sunday.

That may or may not have been the reason for the signs placed intermittently on the cartpaths of that stretch, directing people to the “Nearest Accessible Restroom.”

FINAL TOTALS

Par 288 (4 x 72)

263 Davis Love III 66 69 64 64
264 Tommy Gainey 68 66 66 64
268 Steve Marino 65 66 66 71, Scott Verplank 64 64 69 71
269 Joe Durant 68 68 68 65
270 Scott Sterling 70 63 66 71, Troy Matteson 63 68 69 70, Kevin Streelman 64 69 69 68
272 Michael Allen 70 67 68 67
273 Bob Estes 70 63 71 69, Chris Stroud 70 68 66 69, Robert Garrigus 65 67 68 73, Tim Petrovic 67 67 68 71, Tag Ridings 66 66 71 70, Cameron Beckman 68 68 67 70
274 Ryan Palmer 71 65 69 69, Harrison Frazar 67 68 71 68, Kevin Stadler 67 71 68 68, Jason Day (Aus) 72 66 70 66, Jason Gore 66 67 69 72
275 Jeff Overton 67 68 71 69, Steve Flesch 67 68 73 67, Jimmy Walker 64 72 71 68, Martin Laird (Sco) 68 66 70 71
276 Michael Bradley 70 67 70 69, J.B. Holmes 71 68 69 68, Bo Van Pelt 68 66 68 74, Ken Duke 66 67 69 74, Rich Beem 65 70 69 72, Tim Clark (Rsa) 69 66 69 72, Brenden Pappas (Rsa) 71 66 67 72, Charles Howell III 68 68 68 72
277 Nick Watney 69 70 71 67, Lee Janzen 69 67 72 69, Woody Austin 68 68 69 72, Tom Pernice Jnr. 66 67 72 72, Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 68 66 72 71, Matthew Jones (Aus) 70 64 72 71, John Rollins 68 69 72 68, Robert Allenby (Aus) 66 72 70 69, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 68 68 73 68, Stephen Ames (Can) 68 68 69 72
278 J J Henry 67 69 72 70, Vaughn Taylor 68 71 67 72, Ted Purdy 69 68 68 73, Stewart Cink 66 70 71 71
279 John Riegger 68 69 74 68
280 Bob Sowards 69 68 70 73, Robert Gamez 65 67 70 78, Omar Uresti 67 72 70 71, Marc Turnesa 71 68 72 69
281 Patrick Sheehan 68 71 73 69, Jerry Kelly 71 68 73 69, Tom Scherrer 69 68 73 71, Chris DiMarco 68 71 73 69, Mathias Gronberg (Swe) 67 71 77 66, Bob Tway 73 62 75 71, Boo Weekley 68 71 71 71, Carlos Franco (Par) 69 67 75 70
282 Erik Compton 70 68 72 72, Heath Slocum 71 67 73 71
283 Will MacKenzie 68 69 73 73, Zach Johnson 66 72 74 71
284 Richard S Johnson (Swe) 70 68 76 70
285 Dudley Hart 70 69 74 72, Y. E Yang (Kor) 68 68 75 74
286 Todd Demsey 67 70 75 74, Frank Lickliter II 74 65 76 71
287 Kirk Triplett 65 70 76 76
298 Jeff Maggert 73 66 79 80