Scotland’s Laird lord of course in Texas

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This article was published 08/04/2013 (4874 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SAN ANTONIO — Martin Laird has spent the last six months on the driving range looking for answers to his struggling game.

The Scottish golfer finally found what he was looking for and then some on Sunday, winning the Texas Open with a final-round 9-under par 63 to overcome a resurgent Rory McIlroy and some of the world’s best along the way.

Laird, who entered the week 161st on the money list, tied the course record with his bogey-free effort. He punctuated the overall 14-under effort with birdies on the final three holes, earning a trip to next week’s Masters and plenty of confidence in a recent swing change along the way.

“I came in here quietly confident, even though my record this year has been poor, to say the least,” Laird said. “But golf’s a funny game; doesn’t matter what you did two weeks ago. It turns around pretty quickly.”

The win was Laird’s third on the PGA Tour, his first since the Arnold Palmer Invitational in 2011.

He entered the week having missed four of eight cuts this year following a swing change last September, including a missed cut at last week’s Houston Open. However, he shot a second-round 65 in that event after a four-hour range session, providing plenty of confidence that his game was finally starting to come together.

It did just that Sunday — and how. Laird began the day four shots behind leader Billy Horschel, but he birdied five of his first eight holes to immediately jump into contention. His 7-foot birdie putt on No. 8, one of only 22 putts in the round, put him into a tie with Horschel at 10 under.

He then held off a hard-charging McIlroy over the last few holes, including a stunning up-and-down for birdie out of the fairway bunker and off the fringe on No. 17. He capped the win with a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-5 18th.

McIlroy, the world’s No. 2, began the day at 6 under before posting a 66 to finish two shots back and finish second — his best finish of the year.

Horschel shot a 1-under 71 to finish in a tie for third with Jim Furyk and Charley Hoffman.

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Furyk eagled the par-5 18th from 104 yards out to jump into third. The former U.S. Open winner had only four holes of practice on the Greg Norman-designed Course at TPC on Wednesday before rain washed him out, but he posted a final-round 69 to close out a steady week.

Horschel, who led after the second and third rounds, was unable to match the low rounds of his competitors and finished with a 1-under 71. The Florida native was second at last week’s Houston Open and borderline defiant earlier in the week about his chances against former major winners in seeking his first PGA Tour win.

“Everyone’s going to have butterflies,” he said. “I don’t care if it’s Tiger Woods or Joe Schmo at the golf course; you’re going to have butterflies, and you have to learn how to deal with it.”

— The Associated Press