Las Vegas, Nevada – For the first time in over 7 years, Martin Laird is, once again a winner on the PGA Tour. The Shriners Hospitals for Children Open played at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas was a birdie-fest this week as Laird finished with 23-under-par. 7-under was the cut line and all but 10 players were in double-digit figures below par by the time the dust settled on Sunday.
54-hole co-leader Martin Laird shot a pair of 65s along with a 63 on Friday to get into position for the final round. There was plenty of fire power on the leaderboard, however, as former Oklahoma State star Matthew Wolff shot a 10-under 61 on Saturday to get within 2 for the final round. Patrick Cantlay won this event back in 2017 and was in a tie to start Sunday after firing the exact same 3 scores as Laird. Patrick fell back as he made too many mistakes on the front nine and ended in a tie for 8th.
Coming down the stretch on Sunday, Martin Laird had a one-shot lead after 15 holes. Austin Cook had finished several groups ahead with a stellar 66 and post the clubhouse lead of 23-under-par. Laird had 3-putted the par-5 16th after reaching the green in 2. Laird then blasted his tee shot right on the par-3 17th. After saving a very improbable par under a tree and seeing Wolff missing his birdie putt on 18 for a 66 one group ahead, Laird went to the 18th tee with a one-shot lead and the tournament in his grip or so we thought. Laird made an ill-timed bogey after missing the green right, making way for a 3-way tie and playoff between Austin Cook, Matthew Wolff, and Martin Laird.
The playoff started on 18 where all 3 players made par. The second playoff hole moved to the par-3 17th where Laird had just made an improbable par in regulation. Wolff and Cook both missed their birdie putts. This opened the door for Laird to drain a 12-footer to win as the sun set over TPC Summerlin.
Next week, the PGA Tour will stay in Las Vegas for the CJ Cup which was originally scheduled for South Korea, but will now be played at Shadow Creek.
Martin Laird’s WITB:
Driver: Ping G410 LST 9 degrees (Project X HZURDUS Smoke Black 70G 6.5)
3-wood: Titleist TS3 15 degrees (Mitsubishi Chemical Diamana BF 70 TX)
5-wood: TaylorMade R15 19 degrees (Mitsubishi Diamana S+ 80 TX)
Irons: Srixon Z785 4-PW (Project X 6.5)
Wedges: Cleveland RTX 3 “Raw” 52-10 2-Dot, Cleveland RTX 4 “Raw” 56-10 FULL, 60-9 MID (True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400)
Putter: TaylorMade Spider Tour
Ball: Srixon Z Star XV
Zack Buechner
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