After two Opens and two missed cuts, Martin Laird is showing signs that better times are ahead at the championship possibly even as early as this weekend.
The Glasgow golfer posted a two-over-par 72 that he felt didn’t tell the full story of how well he had performed on day one at Royal St George’s.
It was by some distance his best round yet in his home major and he now believes he’s starting to get to grips with the unique challenge it presents.
He explained, “I’m very happy with how I played in terms of patience out there. That’s something I knew I had to work on over the last few years and this was definitely my most patient Open round today.
“I could easily have gone sideways out there, but I stayed with it. I hit my drive out of bounds at the 14th but made birdie with my second ball.
“Nothing will be harder than Friday at St Andrews last year, but it was tough out there and I struck the ball well.
“If I play tomorrow like I did today making the cut shouldn’t be a problem.
“My performance at the Dunhill Links last year, shooting five-under in windy conditions in the last round, is standing me in good stead.
“This is not a course where scores will run away from you. If you can hang around par and put in one low one you never know what might happen.”
The Laird name appeared on the leaderboard after back-to-back birdies on seven and eight took him to two-under. Unfortunately it was a brief flirtation as he gave both shots back at the ninth.
The American-based Laird recalled, “The double bogey was a result of hitting the wrong club. It went right through the wind and where I was I had no chance really as it wasn’t a great lie.
“After that I felt I finished strongly. I was a bit unlucky at the last where my ball just went in the bunker with my second shot. I was happy to make five there by holing a good putt from eight feet.
“I had holed a good one on 16 for birdie, a good one at 17 for par and then that one at the last. I feel two-over is the worst I could have shot today, which is pretty good as it’s not easy out there.”
Laird pointed out that even though his practice rounds had been played in winds as strong as yesterday’s, the round one conditions were still new to him.
He said, “It was cold at the start and a different wind, which actually made the start easier.
“The first four holes were pretty much downwind as opposed to the left to right wind earlier in the week. That was nice because you don’t want your first few holes to be the toughest of the course”