Martin Charles Campbell Laird (born 29 December 1982) is a Scottish professional golfer, playing on the PGA Tour. He has won four PGA Tour events in his career, most recently the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in 2020. Until Russell Knox earned his card via the 2011 Nationwide Tour, Laird was the only Scottish player on the PGA Tour.
Early golf career
Laird was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and played his Junior golf at Kirkintilloch Golf Club and then moving to play his youth golf at Hilton Park Golf Club. He learned to play golf left-handed but eventually switched to playing right-handed.
College career
In 2000, at the age of 17 and with the assistance of College Prospects of America, Laird moved to the United States to take up a golf scholarship at Colorado State University under head coach Jamie Bermel. He played for the Colorado State Rams in the Mountain West Conference which had been established in 1999. Playing for four years from 2000–01 to 2003–04 he won four individual titles in college events. His wins were in the Mountain West Conference Men's Golf Championship (1 May 2002), El Diablo Intercollegiate (16 March 2003), Ping Golf Cougar Classic (26 April 2003) and Border Olympics (2 April 2004). In his last 3 years he was selected as one of the All Mountain West Conference Selections. He graduated with a degree in marketing in 2004.
In 2009 he was selected as a member of the "Mountain West Men's Golf 10th Anniversary Team".
Professional career
Turning professional after college, he won his second professional tournament, the 2004 Denver Open, winning $12,000. In 2004 he played in a single Nationwide Tour event, the Envirocare Utah Classic, but did not make the cut. At the end of 2004 he qualified for the final stage of the PGA Tour's Qualifying School. He finished at 1 over par for a tie for 96th place, 18 shots behind the winner, fellow Brit, Brian Davis. This gave Laird conditional status for the 2005 Nationwide tour.
In 2005 he concentrated full-time on the Nationwide Tour. He had only limited success with a best position of tied 18th in 19 events and earnings of $18,488 placed him 156th in the Nationwide Tour's money list.
During 2006 Laird won the San Juan Open and a tournament on the Gateway Tour, a third tier tour, at The Wigwam Golf Resort and Spa in Arizona. He did not play on the Nationwide Tour but, as in 2004, he qualified for the final stage of the PGA Tour Qualifying School. His 2 under par total left him tied for 64th place, giving him full status on the Nationwide Tour for 2007.
2007: Nationwide Tour success
In 2007 he again played on the Nationwide Tour, playing a total of 27 events. He won the Athens Regional Foundation Classic in April, earning him $90,000 and then finished tied 3rd in the season-ending Nationwide Tour Championship. His $252,679 earnings placed him 13th place on the Nationwide Tour's money list, to earn his PGA Tour card for 2008.
He qualified for the 2007 U.S. Open, his first major, but scored 76 and 79 and didn't make the cut. He ended the year at 251 in the Official World Golf Rankings.
2008: Rookie season on PGA Tour
In his first season on the PGA Tour, Laird struggled in the first half of the year making the cut only 6 times in 14 events and with a best position of 55th. He showed an improvement in form in July but his main success came in August. He had tied 4th in the Legends Reno-Tahoe Open and then tied 4th again in the Wyndham Championship. These results took him to 128th in the FedEx Cup standings and entry into The Barclays, the first of the FedEx Cup Playoff events. He tied for 7th in this event. The three successive tournaments had earned him $546,225. His good performance in The Barclays raised him to 67 in the FedEx Cup standings giving him entries into the Deutsche Bank Championship and the BMW Championship. He eventually finished at 67 in the FedEx Cup standings and he took $110,000 of the Bonus Pool.
Before the final event of the season, the Children's Miracle Network Classic, he was 126th in the PGA Tour's money list behind Shane Bertsch. Only the top 125 would retain their cards for the 2009 season. Bertsch failed to make the cut and with Laird finishing the tournament tied for 21st, the $49,680 he won gave him 125th place on the PGA Tour's money list $11,504 ahead of Bertsch, who dropped to 126th. Had he missed an 8-foot par putt at the final hole, his earnings would have dropped by some $15,000. Laird's season earnings were $852,752. He ended the year ranked 268 in the World Rankings.