Martin Laird won’t start his Ryder Cup bid until his rivals have spent four months gathering points, but the US-based Scot is still thinking a place at Gleneagles is a live possibility.
Laird restated his credentials as a candidate for Paul McGinley’s team with his Texas Open win in April, his third on the PGA Tour, but slipping out of the world top 50 in 2012 means he can’t re-apply for European Tour membership until January.
Nonetheless, he thinks he can get enough points or impress McGinley sufficiently in the time he is qualified.
“I do think I have a genuine chance of getting in,” he said from his home in Charlotte.
“In terms of the best way in, it’s all going to come down to one thing playing good golf. If I’m playing in tournaments and doing well, that might take care of the points situation.
“It’s going to be a lot harder for me starting in January but it’s something I couldn’t avoid, having fallen out of the top 50 in the world at the end of last year. I couldn’t possibly have played both tours doing that this year.
“But my best way of getting in is to keep getting better, getting hot next year and, if I don’t make the team automatically, hopefully I’ve done enough to warrant a home pick for the Ryder Cup in Scotland, which would obviously be pretty special to me.”
Maybe the most direct way to do it would be to win a major between now and then, but Laird has to get his ranking up to get into his native Open Championship at Muirfield.
He said: “I’ve got a few ways I can still get in. I could do it by playing well in the US Open, getting into the top 20 in the FedEx Cup as five guys from that who aren’t already in would get a spot and obviously I could get in by winning the Scottish Open, which would be very nice.
“I know they also fill the Open field off world rankings, so hopefully I can play well these next few weeks, keep my ranking high and get to Muirfield, because it’s definitely one I don’t want to miss.”
Winning a major would be the next progression for the Glasgow-born player.
“It’s obviously the next step from winning tournaments like Texas and Bay Hill,” he agreed.
“I wouldn’t say it’s something I have to do but it’s definitely something I want, but first I need to get into contention more in majors.
‘That’s the one thing I’m aiming for. I’m not going to be greedy and say I want to win one in the next year or two but I want to get in the mix, start being up there more and get the feeling of what it’s like being there on Sunday in a tournament like the Open, US Open or whatever one it is.
“I definitely feel like I’m good enough. I feel like, if I get in the mix in one and get the timing right, I definitely have a chance.”
Laird is already confirmed for the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open at Castle Stuart in July and looking even further ahead is confident that the rule change against anchoring which he occasionally employs while using a belly-length putter will not affect him.
Nine PGA Tour players have organised legal advice against the ruling by the R&A and USGA, but Laird has not gone with them.
“I got a Taylor Made putter earlier this year with a shorter grip but with weighting on the top of the grip, so it’s pretty much the same feeling as the putter I’m using it now,” he explained. “
“It’s probably something where I’ll wait until six months out from the change, then I’ll start working on it.
“I’m not overly concerned because I don’t really anchor it anyway. I’m not too concerned because it’s not going to take me too long to get used to it.
‘It’s something I’m not going to rush into but I really don’t think I’m going to have a problem.”