The former Colorado State University golfer hadn’t posted back-to-back top-10s in more than three years, but managed that feat this month.
Two weeks after tying for ninth place at the Waste Management Phoenix Open in his hometown of Scottsdale, Laird matched that season-best showing on Sunday at the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif., earning $180,000.
Laird (pictured) played his final five holes in 3 under par on the tough Rivera course to shoot a 3-under-par 68 in the final round. His 7-under 277 total left him five strokes behind champion Bubba Watson.
Laird helped his cause considerably with an eagle on the par-5 17th hole on Sunday, when he drained a 15-foot putt.
The last time before this month that Laird recorded back-to-back top-10s on the PGA Tour was in February 2015, when he placed fifth in the Waste Management Phoenix Open and seventh in the Farmers Insurance Open.
Also in tour action on Sunday, Colorado resident Gary Hallberg finished 15th in the Chubb Classic in Naples, Fla., his PGA Tour Champions season opener.
In his best Champions performance since August, Hallberg went 65-70-72 for a 9-under-par 207 total in Naples. He finished 10 strokes behind winner Joe Durant and earned $25,632.
The former Colorado State University golfer on Sunday tied for eighth place in the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif., marking his fourth top-10 finish in eight starts on the PGA Tour in the 2016-17 wraparound season.
The showing was worth $203,000, inching Laird (pictured) very close to $15 million in career money on the PGA Tour, with $14.83 million. The three-time PGA Tour winner has earned at least $140,000 in each of five tournaments this season and has racked up $952,506 in tourney earnings over just the last four-plus months. He stands 19th on the 2016-17 PGA Tour money list.
Though Laird hasn’t won this season, he’s finished seventh once, eighth twice and ninth once.
At the Genesis Open, Laird went 70-68-70-66 for a 10-under-par 274 total, leaving him seven strokes behind champion Dustin Johnson.
Meanwhile, former Golden resident Andrew Svoboda posted his best Web.com Tour finish since winning an event in Brazil last April.
Svoboda placed ninth Sunday in the Panama Claro Championship in Panama City, carding rounds of 70-68-68-67 for a 7-under-par 273 total, which left him six strokes behind winner Andrew Putnam.
Svoboda owns three wins on the Web.com circuit.