Martin Laird launches 2010 PGA Tour with opening drive

Kapalua: The 2010 PGA Tour began under cloudy skies when Britain`s Martin Laird found the middle of the fairway with the first tee shot of the season-opening SBS Championship.

Laird`s drive rolled 368 yards down the hill at Kapalua Resort`s picturesque par-four first before he reached the green in two and two-putted for a regulation par. Australian Nathan Green, who booked his place in the elite winners-only field with victory at last year`s Canadian Open, recorded the year`s first birdie when he rammed in a 12-foot putt at the par-three second. For many of the players, organisers and fans in attendance, there would have been a collective sigh of relief that PGA Tour "normalcy" had been resumed after several weeks in which the focus was on Tiger Woods` troubled private life.Although world number one Woods has not played at Kapalua since 2005, his well-documented fall from grace had dominated the tournament`s build-up. The greatest player of his generation, Woods announced last month he was taking an indefinite break from golf in the wake of embarrassing revelations about his personal life and his admission he had cheated on his Swedish wife."Anybody who hasn`t talked about the Tiger thing in the last two months was on the moon," PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem told reporters at Kapalua earlier this week. American Pat Perez represented the views of most players in saying he wanted Woods back on the circuit as soon as possible. Bureau Report