Sixth and last round coming up at Q School in California

LAIRD NEEDS GOOD FINAL ROUND
TO WIN CARD FOR US PGA TOUR

Former Scottish youth champion Martin Laird from Glasgow is going to have shoot several under par in the sixth and final round of the US PGA Tour Final Qualifying School at La Quinta, California today.
That is the only conclusion to be drawn from his fifth-round experience where he scored a one-under-par 71 …. only to drop from joint 31st to joint 39th place.
Only the leading 30 and ties after six rounds will gain full playing rights for the US Tour next year.
Give the 6ft 2in Scot, who played for four years on the American college circuit as a Colorado State University student, the credit for keeping his nerve after he began with a double bogey 6 and then dropped to three over for the fifth round with a bogey at the third.
Laird steadied the ship with pars at the fourth, fifth and sixth and then began his recovery with a birdie 4 at the long seventh.
At the turn, he was still two over for the day but birdies at the 13th, 15th and 17th saw him back in the clubhouse with a 71 for a current tally of 354, the same as Germany’s Alex Cejka and former US Tour player Duffy Waldorf.
Irishman Keith Nolan has dropped down to a share of 55th place after a 77 for 356 while former Ryder Cup player Lee Janzen, pictured above, a winner eight times on the US Tour, including the 1993 and 1998 US Opens is not at the races – joint 97th to be precise – on 363.
Little known American club pro George McNeill leads the way with an 18-under-par total of 342. He has shot in the 60s from round two to round five inclusive. This is his ninth attempt to get on the US Tour.
LEADING FIFTH-ROUND TOTALS
Par 360 (5 x 72)
342 George McNeill (US) 73 66 67 69 67.
344 Rich Barcelo (US) 71 64 70 69 70.
345 John Merrick (US) 74 69 68 67 67, Cameron Beckman 75 64 66 71 69, Michael Boyd 70 74 64 66 71.
346 Paul Gow (Aus) 70 68 65 75 68, Robert Garrigus (US) 75 68 65 68 70, Darron Stiles (US) 72 71 66 68 68.
Other totals:
347 Anders Hansen (Den) 72 72 67 70 66 (jt 9th).
354 Martin Laird (Sco) 73 70 70 70 71, Alex Cejka (Ger) 74 70 66 73 71, Duffy Waldorf (US) 75 68 73 69 69 (jt 39th).
356 Keith Nolan (Ire) 72 73 67 68 76 (jt 53rd).
363 Lee Janzen (US) 73 72 68 77 73 (jt 97th).