Having become Scotland’s highest ranked player during July Marc Warren heads into August carrying the additional billing of tournament favourite at the Saltire Energy Paul Lawrie Matchplay following the second round elimination of the top seed as well as the host.
The 34-year-old Glaswegian had previously said he felt Lawrie was the man who would have to deal with the bulk of the attention, but the veteran was beaten yesterday by compatriot Chris Doak while James Morrison, the form player coming into the event, was knocked out by Sweden’s Johan Carlsson.
However in terms of any additional burden Warren, who now meets 2012 Ryder Cup player Nicolas Colsaerts in the pick of the third round ties, believes he has already addressed the biggest challenge.
“I think when you get by the first round, all the pressure kind of goes away, but no, I wouldn't have said there’s any more or any less pressure,” he said after his 3&2 win over Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zanotti.
“I just try to beat my opponent. If I play well and he plays well and he beats me, then fair enough.
“We've seen the amount of guys going through scoring not that great and some guys getting knocked out scoring well. It's a little bit of the luck of the draw and a little bit of timing, as well. You hole one or two putts at the right time can make a massive difference.
“We've seen that yesterday, a perfect example of that and again today. I think we both played well again today. I just holed a couple of crucial putts in the last few holes to get through.”
As if to underline that point the quality of Warren’s performance was very much at odds with that of not only Lawrie but the man who beat him.
So much so that Chris Doak could not have been more blunt in explaining how unimpressed he had been with the ingratitude he showed when presented with a gift at the end of the encounter, his host having hospitably left the entire expanse of the 18th fairway at his disposal.
“You really want to know my thoughts?” he countered, pausing briefly before spluttering exactly what they were: “**** me!”
A combination of swing malfunction and strong breeze meant that after Lawrie had pulled his drive onto the second hole, Doak’s flew so far right that, fearing it was out-of-bounds, he felt the need to hit a provisional, only to find the original missile in a bunker fully 100 yards away from his opponent’s ball.
Having found it in play he then received a second huge break in that, because the hazard in question is part of the Murcar club’s second course, the nine hole Strabathie, it had been marked as ground-under-repair for this week and so the tournament rules officials effectively contributed to the elimination of the host since Doak was left with a relatively straightforward 140 yard shot to the green, with a good angle to the pin.
Doak admitted afterwards that, in the course of changing his swing as he is, he will have to play a lot better to progress further, the nature of the all-Scottish clash perhaps summed up by the fact it went the distance in spite of Lawrie’s admission that: “I played horrendously today, hit it really, really poorly.”
There remains an Aberdonian for home galleries to get behind, however, following Richie Ramsay’s impressive win over 2010 Ryder Cup player Edoardo Molinari.
The course record holder who grew up playing on the neighbouring Balgownie links as a member of Royal Aberdeen, clearly feels home advantage is helping him.
“I like the way the wind is at the moment,” he said.
“It switched around from the last few days and I know how to play the course, especially in this wind.”
That said he admitted that even he has needed to re-acclimatise to the wind and rain of summer on the North Sea coast.
“You do tend to go soft,” he laughed.
“We play in some great places with some lovely climates. This weather wouldn’t have bothered me one bit when I was younger. I’ve got to take that attitude this week and just get on with it.”
The only other Scot to get to the second round, David Drysdale, was meanwhile heavily beaten, 6&4, by yet another of the ex-Ryder Cup players in this field, David Howell.
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