Laird finds form to make his move
SCOTLAND’S Martin Laird made a big move up the leaderboard as he tries to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational for the second time.
The 2011 champion birdied the second and seventh holes to reach the turn in 34 and, after another birdie on the 10th, holed from 15 feet for an eagle on the 12th.
A pushed drive on the 15th cost Laird his first shot of the day and dropped him back to seven under alongside Rory McIlroy, but the Scot rallied and ended with a 67, and joint second with Lanto Griffin on eight under par, just a shot behind clubhouse leader Corey Conners.
Canada’s Conners, whose sole PGA Tour title came in the Valero Texas Open in 2019, followed his opening 66 with a 69 which featured an eagle on the par-five 16th for the second day running.
“It was really solid today,” the world No.60 said. “I didn’t hit as many shots close to the hole as I did yesterday, to give myself as many birdie chances, but I was really happy with how I grinded out a bunch of pars today.
“I haven’t really been in this position a lot, but I have a lot of confidence in my game and feeling really relaxed the last few days, so try and keep that going.”
Norway’s Viktor Hovland continued his excellent form, adding a second round of 68 left him two shots off the lead.
Starting the day three shots off the lead shared by Conners and McIlroy, Hovland wiped out his deficit in the space of seven holes with four birdies and a bogey after starting from the 10th.
His progress was halted when he bogeyed the second and another shot went following a miscued approach to the par-five fourth. However, the Ryder Cup hopeful bounced back to birdie the parfive sixth, holed from a greenside bunker on the next and made it a hat-trick of birdies from eight feet on the eighth.
AFTER living off meagre rations in his first two games for Glasgow Warriors, Rufus McLean finally got the ball in his hands with a clear view of the line in the 42nd minute of last Sunday’s away clash against Leinster, and he grabbed his chance. The 21-year-old flicked on the afterburners as he streaked up the right touchline on his way to a try which sparked a brave 14-man fightback against the PRO14’s dominant side.
Warriors ultimately ran out of steam after a yellow-card for flanker TJ Ioane, on top of the red-card shown to Adam Hastings just before half time, left them battling with 13-men for the final 10 minutes, but the performances of Glasgow’s young guns meant the match did not leave the normal bitter aftertaste from a 19-point losing margin.
Spurred on by that promising performance, Warriors head coach Danny Wilson has named six players aged 21 or younger in his starting XV for today’s away match against Zebre, and for McLean – who will make his fourth appearance for the club on the right wing – there is no sense of pressure, just another opportunity to get some game time after a frustrating two months.
“The real pressure I’ve felt this season was to get into the squad because I just wasn’t seeing any of it,” he says. “I think I must have gone half a season in the bibs, not hearing if I was going to get an opportunity, and then in conversation with the coaches I started to get reassurance that opportunities will come. The difficult part for me was not having an understanding of when that would be.
“It was a very pleasant surprise to hear I was getting my first game against Edinburgh [in mid-January] because the coaches kept it a secret for as long as possible so everyone could see my reaction in the team meeting. If anything, I thought I would be on the bench, so when I found out I was starting I was a bundle of emotions.”
The life of an emerging professional rugby player is not as glamorous as some might assume. The training is hard, the discipline required is monastic, and opportunities to put all your preparation to good use in a match can be few and far between. With that in mind, McLean is in no doubt that his double life as a full-time secondyear student of Social Policy and Spanish at the University of Strathclyde has given him a valuable outlet away from the sport.
“If I didn’t have that then I wouldn’t have anything to concentrate on outside rugby,” he says. “As much as rugby seems like everything at the moment because I am fit and getting games, I was out injured for about a year when I was 19 and that put serious perspective on the need to have something to fall back on because rugby is not a forever thing.
“The Spanish is massive for me. I think I’d like to go live in Spain when I’m older – beside the beach in the sun would be a nice change – so I’ll definitely try to keep that going for as long as possible. The Social Policy was more to give the degree a bit of edge. Something a little bit more guided. Whether that means I go work in the social sector, I’m not so sure, but it is something I am interested in.”
McLean, who recently signed a contract extension with Warriors, benefits from the university’s commitment to supporting elite athletes, which has led to a partnership being forged with Warriors involving the sharing of facilities and expertise. From his perspective, the most important thing is the flexibility built into his course which allows him to concentrate on his rugby career without compromising his studies.
“Around the time I did my university applications, I spoke to somebody in the Scottish
Rugby academy about how I would love to study in Glasgow and the advice I got back was that Strathclyde was handsdown the place I should be looking to go because they are so flexible and understanding of elite sports people,” he says. “So, I got in touch with the elite sports liaison there and they sorted me out.
“I get a lot of leeway on deadlines and attendance when I just physically can’t be there because I am training or playing. My focus is rugby but I do try to make it work as best I can.
“The only downside to doing both is that you do have to sacrifice a little bit on the social side because a typical cheap student night out is on a Tuesday or Wednesday, and I’m training during the week, so I’m tucked up in bed at 10pm while all my mates are out partying.
“But that’s just the way it has to be, and at the end of the day, I get to do other stuff which is pretty cool.”
(v Zebre at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, today,1.30pm): O Smith; R McLean, H Jones, S Johnson, C Forbes; R Thompson, J Dobie; O Kebble, G Stewart, E Pieretto, R Harley, H Bain, G Brown, T Gordon, R Wilson (c). Substitutes: J Matthews, D Evans, D Rae, J Scott, L Nakarawa, S Kennedy, I Keatley, N Grigg.
M Biondelli; P Bruno, T Boni (c), E Lucchin, M Bellini; P Pescetto, G Palazzani; D Rimpelli, O Fabiani, E Bello, S Ortis, I Nagle, L Masselli, P Junior Leavasa, R Giammarioli. Substitutes: M Manfredi, P Buonfiglio, M Nocera, M Kearney, C Alaimalo, N Casilio, A Rizzi, G Di Giulio.
Referee: Craig Evans (Wales)