THE dust is yet to settle on this year’s PGA Championship but Marc Warren returns home tomorrow morning determined to capitalise on the remainder of 2015 ensuring he will contest all four majors of 2016.
Warren is yet to contest the Masters but after a continuing fine showing at Whistling Straits, Scotland’s leading world ranked player is certain to move closer to receiving the most prize item of mail ever and that’s a standard white envelope postmarked ‘Augusta, GA’.
Warren heads into today’s upstate Wisconsin final round at three under par following a rock solid third day 69 in heatwave conditions along the Lake Michigan shoreline.
His day had commenced at 7am local time and with Warren needing to play five holes of his second round after a fierce electrical storm brought an abrupt halt to play late on Friday afternoon.
Unlike his six Tartan-born colleagues, Warren made the cut by two shots at two over par in shooting a one over par 73, and then after a 45-minute break jumped straight into his third round and ending some 45-minutes before the leaders had teed off, and with a round that included four birdies, at the second, ninth, 11th and 16th holes, and with his only bogey at the 15th.
It is was Warren’s sixth sub-70 PGA score in 11 rounds of the traditional season-ending major.
“It was really a good day’s work even though it’s been a long day getting up at 5am and now walking off having played 22 holes today,” he said.
“The good thing is I got a good full night’s sleep and something I probably wasn’t expecting so very pleased with the effort today.
“So it would be nice now to go out there for a final time tomorrow and shoot something similar or even lower. I feel as though there is a low round in my bag.”
Warren’s only disappointment on day three was the bogey from just 97-yards out at the 14th.
“That was a very sloppy shot while I was 47-yards out at the 10th on Friday and also made bogey, so it was a bit sloppy with stuff like that and it’s very unlike me as my wedge play has been strong,” he said.
“Hopefully, I can keep it all together tomorrow and hopefully walk away with a five or six under par finish.”
Warren has now made the halfway cut in his past six majors going back to a career high of T12th in the 2013 PGA Championship at Oakmont and including sharing 27th at this year’s U.S. Open while he was T40th in the recent Open Championship.
“I feel I have shown over the last few majors I have contested I am comfortable playing at this level and it’s a reflection of how much my game has improved given I have not missed a cut in the majors I have played since missing the Muirfield Open cut by a stroke,” he said.
“So my record is quite decent along with two good finishes in this PGA the past two years.
“Of course, the only Major I haven’t contested is the Masters and if I can keep playing as well as this when I get back to Europe next week, and starting with my defence of the Made in Denmark title then hopefully I will know about Christmas time that I could be playing in all four majors next season.”
Martin Laird was at two over par on Friday when he walked from the course after having marked his ball on the 12th green but he then returned Saturday to double the 15th, and while he birdied the last, his score of 71 for three over par was short by a single stroke.
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