Laird had a rare European outing when he finished tied for 5th in the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in October and then two weeks later returned to Las Vegas to defend the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open title that he won in 2009. Laird missed a 25-foot putt on the 72nd hole. A three-man playoff then ensued with Laird being joined by Cameron Percy and Jonathan Byrd. Martin had more chances to win but missed putts of varying lengths at the first three sudden-death playoff holes. This was to prove costly as on the 4th playoff hole, Byrd, who had the honour, made the first ever hole in one in a playoff in PGA Tour history to win the title. The tie for 2nd place lifted Laird to a career high world ranking of 55. The following week, he tied for 3rd place in the CIMB Asia Pacific Classic Malaysia, two shots behind winner Ben Crane, lifting him into the world top 50 with a new ranking to 49.