Laird takes three shot lead at Barclays
BY Bruce Young | US PGA Tour | 2010 The Barclays | Round Three | 29 Aug 2010
Scot, Martin Laird, is on the verge of his most significant day in golf after a third round of 65 at the Barclays Championship in Paramus, New Jersey, created a three shot lead over Jason Day and Dustin Johnson with just one round to play.
Laird, whose only previous win on the PGA Tour came eleven months ago at the Justin Timberlake event, birdied four of his first five holes today and briefly took the lead.
Australian Jason Day, who led into round three, started with a bogey at the first but bounced back quickly and when he chipped in for an eagle from the side of the reachable par four 5th he had wrestled back the lead.
A see-saw battle between Laird and Day developed over the next few holes but a superb tee shot at the lengthy par three 10th took Laird to the lead once again. He extended that at the par five 17th and a par at the last maintained the significant cushion for tomorrow’s final round.
Laird is in his third PGA Tour season after gaining his card via the 2007 Nationwide Tour. The 28 year old played collegiate golf at the University of Colorado before turning professional in 2004 and gained access to the Nationwide Tour almost immediately.
He stands on the verge of his most important win in the game and, in addition, the chance to advance his cause in the chase for the riches of the FedEx Cup. A win tomorrow is likely to take him to the top of the overall points table and with US$ 10 million awaiting the winner at the conclusion of the Tour Championship the significance of tomorrow is huge.
Johnson displayed again his great capacity to put adversity in his rear vision mirror. He was able to do just that after his last round implosion at Pebble Beach and his round of 64 today has dispelled any concerns about his final hole blunder at the PGA Championship. Johnson appears on the surface to be a cool calm and collected customer but if he was to win tomorrow then he could be forgiven an emotional moment.
Adam Scott at 8 under is within four and very much in the mix and the large group at 7 under are also very much in contention. That group includes John Senden, Justin Rose, Matt Kuchar, Ryan Palmer, Vaughn Taylor and Kevin Streelman.
