Laird Snares Third Ace, Second In Houston & The Tour’s 1,402nd In 69-Years.

5 years ago by Comments Off on Laird Snares Third Ace, Second In Houston & The Tour’s 1,402nd In 69-Years.

Martin Laird brilliantly returned to competition for the first time since his Las Vegas victory jackpot grabbing an ace at his second hole on day one of the Houston Open.

Laird landed his 9-iron tee shot well left of the flag and with his ball superbly finding the slope about 30-feet from the cup and then as it picked-up pace and was some four-feet from hole, Laird could be heard saying: “Go in”.

It did for only Laird’s third ace of his PGA Tour career and his second in back-to-back Houston Open titles but unfortunately no gleaming new motor on offer for either.

Last October, the Scot grabbed a maiden Tour ace at the 7th hole at the Golf Club of Houston while Laird recorded a second ace earlier this year on the opening day of the American Express Championship at PGA West in Palm Springs.

Laird’s ace is the sixth of the new 2020/21 schedule while it is also the 1,402nd ace in the history of the PGA Tour since 1971.

The now Denver-based Laird has had three other aces but outside of official competition.

Laird eventually posted a two-under par 72 and headed to lunch on a revamped and much tougher Memorial Parkland course just west of the heart of the sprawling Texas city.

The course was re-opened late last year following a £ 26m make-over and returning to the Houston Open rota for the first time since 1963, and also one of only two municipal courses on the Tour.

Four-time major winning Brooks Koepka had been invited by course re-designer Tom Doak to offer a ‘players perspective’ to the project but struggled with three birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey in his two-over 72.

“It was nice and with the golf course in good shape,” said Koepka.

“It’s a fun golf course to play, I really like it. Obviously having a hand in it is special so you want to play well, but I just hit it like — I hit it terrible today

However, Koepka revealed he was on the friendly receiving end of three-time Major winning Jordan Spieth who struggled under the weight of a 73.

“Every time Jordan hit it in the water, he told me that was my fault,” said Koepka, smiling.

“So, I’m pretty sure a couple people, every bad shot will be my fault, so I’ll take that.”

Four players – the Americans Michael Thompson and Scottie Scheffler along with Aussie Cameron David and Mexican  Carlos Ortiz were the early clubhouse leaders with scores of three-under par 67s.

 

 

 

 



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