{"id":344690,"date":"2011-03-26T22:19:54","date_gmt":"2011-03-26T22:19:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/03\/26\/laird-extends-advantage\/"},"modified":"2011-03-26T22:19:54","modified_gmt":"2011-03-26T22:19:54","slug":"laird-extends-advantage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/26\/laird-extends-advantage\/","title":{"rendered":"Laird extends advantage"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\t <\/p>\n

\n
\n

20110326<\/p>\n

\t<\/p>\n

\n

Scot leads by two at Bay Hill <\/h3>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t Last updated: 26th March 2011\u00a0\u00a0 \"Subscribe<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

\t\t\t\"Laird<\/p>\n

Laird: Early hat-trick of birdies<\/p>\n

Third round leaderboard<\/b>
US unless stated<\/i>
-11 M Laird (Sco)
-9 S Levin
-7 B Watson
-7 S Marino
-6 R Fowler
-6 D Toms<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> for collated scores<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\t \t<\/p>\n

Related links<\/h3>\n

News <\/h4>\n

Report<\/h4>\n

Also see<\/h4>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Martin Laird will take a two-stroke lead into the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, Florida on Sunday.\n<\/p>\n

The Scotsman led by one at halfway and doubled his advantage over playing partner Spencer Levin after returning a two-under-par 70.<\/p>\n

Bubba Watson and Steve Marino are two shots further back as few players made inroads at the top of the leaderboard.<\/p>\n

A hat-trick of birdies from the fourth gave Laird a four-shot cushion at one stage, and although he birdied the two other par fives on the back nine he also made three bogeys to leave the door still ajar.<\/p>\n

Drew level<\/h4>\n

Levin whittled the advantage back through the middle part of the round, picking up birdies at the seventh, 10th and 12th to draw level again at 11-under.<\/p>\n

But Levin, who had led by three after the opening round, bogeyed the 15th and 16th to hand back the initiative to his rival.<\/p>\n

“This is a carry over from the end of last year and it gives you the confidence to go out and hold the lead and hopefully do the same tomorrow,” Laird said.<\/p>\n

“If I can win tomorrow it will mean a lot.”<\/p>\n

Watson holed a monster putt at the 18th to leave himself four shots back following a round of 68, while Rickie Fowler overcame a seven at the sixth to card a 70 and remain within hailing distance of the leader, alongside David Toms on six-under.<\/p>\n

Disappointment<\/h5>\n

But there was disappointment for KJ Choi (76) and Hunter Mahan (75), who played themselves out of contention, as did Tiger Woods, who returned a messy 74 that included four bogeys and a double.<\/p>\n

The former world number one got it to four under par for the tournament with an eagle at the long sixth but was once again swinging erratically, and will extend his winless streak by another week on Sunday.<\/p>\n

“I made a few mistakes out there,” Woods said. “There was a point in the round I had to get more aggressive on 13 and paid the price for it. I figured I needed to shoot three or four under, and it backfired on me a little bit.”<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\t\t\tClick Here for Your Free Bet<\/a>\t<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\t\t <\/p>\n

\t<\/span><\/div>\n

‘ );
\n\t\t\t\t\t}
\n\t\t\t\t});<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t$.ajax(
\n\t\t\t\t\turl: “\/yourview\/comments_json\/0,26302,6836863_”+selectedPageNumber+”_20,00.txt”,
\n\t \t\t\t\tcache: true,
\n\t\t\t\t\tdataType: “json”,
\n\t \t\t\t\tsuccess: function(json)
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tloadingFinished = true;\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t$(‘#load-comments’).html(”);
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tprocessJSONComments(json, selectedPageNumber);<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tif (typeof _hbPageView != “undefined”)
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmyPN = hbx.pn + ” – ” + selectedPageNumber;
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tmyMLC = hbx.mlc + “\/” + selectedPageNumber;
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t_hbPageView(myPN, myMLC);<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tif (typeof SKY_TRACKING != “undefined”)
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ section will remain as it is on the page
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ contentType will be “article comments” or “match comments”
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSKY_TRACKING.contentType = “article comments”;
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSKY_TRACKING.pagination = “page ” + selectedPageNumber;
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tsky.tracking.launch ( SKY_TRACKING );<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t$(‘#load-comments’).css(‘min-height’, ” );
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t$(‘#load-comments’).css(‘display’, ” );<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t$(‘#load-comments’).children(‘.ss-opinion-comment-box-comment’).show();
\n\t\t\t\t\t},
\n\t\t\t\t\terror: function (XMLHttpRequest, textStatus, errorThrown)
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tloadingFinished = true;
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t$(‘#load-comments #loading’).remove();
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t$(‘#load-comments’).children(‘.ss-opinion-comment-box-comment’).show();<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t});<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\twindow.location.hash=’yourviewcomments’;\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\treturn false;
\n\t\t\t});
\n\t\t}<\/p>\n

\t\tfunction processJSONComments(json,page)
\n\t\t\tvar perPage = 20;
\n\t\t\tvar beginIndex = (page-1) * perPage;
\n\t\t\tvar createdComments = 0;
\n\t\t\tvar comment;<\/p>\n

\t\t\t$(‘.ss-opinion-comment-box ul.pagination li’).removeClass(‘on’);
\n\t\t\t$(‘.ss-opinion-comment-box ul.pagination’).find(‘li:eq(‘+page+’)’).addClass(‘on’);
\n\t\t\t$(‘.pag-key span’).html(page);<\/p>\n

\t\t\tfor(var i in json)
\n\t\t\t\tcomment = jsoni;
\n\t\t\t\tcreateComment(i, comment);
\n\t\t\t\tcreatedComments++;<\/p>\n

\t\t\tupdatePagination(page);
\n\t\t}<\/p>\n

\t\tfunction processXMLComments(xml,page)
\n\t\t\tvar perPage = 20;
\n\t\t\tvar beginIndex = (page-1) * perPage;
\n\t\t\tvar createdComments = 0;<\/p>\n

\t\t\t$(‘.ss-opinion-comment-box ul.pagination li’).removeClass(‘on’);
\n\t\t\t$(‘.ss-opinion-comment-box ul.pagination’).find(‘li:eq(‘+page+’)’).addClass(‘on’);
\n\t\t\t$(‘.pag-key span’).html(page);<\/p>\n

\t\t\t$(“comment”,xml).each(
\n\t\t\t\tfunction(index,node)
\n\t\t\t\t\tcreateComment(index, node);
\n\t\t\t\t\tcreatedComments++;<\/p>\n

\t\t\t);<\/p>\n

\t\t\tupdatePagination(page);
\n\t\t}<\/p>\n

\t\tfunction updatePagination(page)
\n\t\t\tvar paginationItems = $(“ul.pagination”);
\n\t\t\tvar totalPages = 0;
\n\t\t\tvar startPage = 1;<\/p>\n

\t\t\tif( totalPages ‘ +
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstartPage + ”;<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tif( startPage == page )
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t$(node).addClass(‘on’);
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t else
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t$(node).removeAttr(‘class’);<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t$(node).html(pageHtml);<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tstartPage++;
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t}
\n\t\t\t\t\t);
\n\t\t\t\t}
\n\t\t\t);<\/p>\n

\t\t\tsetupCommentPageClickHandlers();<\/p>\n

\t\t}<\/p>\n

\t\tfunction createComment(index, commentNode )
\n\t\t\tif(commentNode.ownerDocument)
\n\t\t\t\tvar user = $(“user”,commentNode).text();
\n\t\t\t\tvar favTeam = $(“favTeam”,commentNode).text();
\n\t\t\t\tvar comment = $(“body”,commentNode).text();
\n\t\t\t\tvar dateCreated = $(“dateCreated”,commentNode).text();
\n\t\t\t\tvar editorComments = $(“editorComments”,commentNode).text();
\n\t\t\t else
\n\t\t\t\tvar user = commentNode.user;
\n\t\t\t\tvar favTeam = commentNode.favTeam;
\n\t\t\t\tvar comment = commentNode.body;
\n\t\t\t\tvar dateCreated = commentNode.dateCreated;
\n\t\t\t\tvar editorComments = commentNode.editorComments;
\n\t\t\t\tvar nomination = commentNode.ysTitle;<\/p>\n

\t\t\tvar commentHTML = ”;<\/p>\n

\t\t\t$(‘#load-comments’).append(commentHTML);
\n\t\t}<\/p>\n

\nSend us your views<\/legend>\n

\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t

\t\t <\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t

\t\t