Like a poker player able to keep his cool as the stakes rise, Martin Laird picked up his maiden PGA Tour victory after a 3 man sudden-death play-off in Sin City. In the tournament hosted by Justin Timberlake at TPC Summerlin, it was a fitting finale that an underdog winner came through to take the $756,000 first prize.

Laird, a Colorado State alum and US resident, had a target for the week to make a check decent enough to give him a shot at retaining his PGA Tour card. Instead he left with a two year exemption and a PGA Tour victory that most European players fail to achieve before retirement. Even eight-time European Order of Merit winner, Colin Montgomerie, could not manage the feat. But it was the way he handled himself when the heat was on, that will no doubt take his confidence in his game to another level.

Laird said: “When I got into the playoff I was surprised; I kind of chilled out a little. I was pretty nervous the last two or three holes in regulation, and once I got there in the playoff I kind of relaxed a little more..and when I stood up there on the first playoff hole and struck the ball down the middle, it was the perfect way to start.”

He becomes only the third Scot to win on the PGA Tour after Sandy Lyle and Ken Brown. Laird will now join the other 2009 PGA Tour winners for the season opening “Aloha Swing” in Hawaii in January. No doubt a life changing event for Laird, but let’s hope it’s also a change for Scottish golf, which has not had much to get excited about in recent years.

(photo by Isaac Brekken/AP)