MYRTLE BEACH, SC — Martin Laird didn’t find out he was in the Myrtle Beach Classic until Monday. Three days later, he tied for the best with nine birdies in a 7-under 64 that gave him one shot Thursday in his second PGA Tour start of the year.
Aaron Rai and Keita Nakajima, the former No. 1 novice in the world, were 65 years old.
Laird has four PGA Tour victories, the last in Las Vegas in the fall of 2020. He stepped in when Andrew Putnam qualified for the $20 million signature event at Quail Hollow and withdrew from Myrtle Beach, making room.
Laird has been bouncing between the Korn Ferry Tour and whatever PGA Tour events he can get into, which hasn’t been much. His other start was at the Puerto Rico Open, where he tied for 57.
“Obviously it’s a big opportunity,” said the 43-year-old Laird. “Anytime you get to play in a PGA Tour event even at my age it’s still fun. It was good to go back and forth, but it’s hard sometimes to jump back and forth because you don’t really know where you’re going and where you’re going to run.”
It was a good run in the opening round at the rain-soaked Dunes Golf and Beach Club. That was the product of going to a zero-torque putter, and trusting his first learning. It seemed to work as he made eight putts over 10 feet — one short of the ShotLink era record.
The winner enters the PGA Championship if not yet eligible. That’s too far for Laird to consider after one round, but it’s been five years since he last played in the majors.
John VanDerLaan, Paul Peterson and Mark Hubbard were 68.
Presidents Cup captain Brandt Snedeker was in a large 67-year-old group that included Ryan Ruffels, a former PGA Tour player turned YouTube creator who entered the event by winning a creator-led qualifier.
Brooks Koepka was tied for 17th at 3 under.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
