Scotland’s Marc Warren is only 18 holes away and four shots away from a guaranteed tee time in next week’s PGA Tour Valspar Championship at Tampa Bay.
After scores of 73 and 75 Warren showed his true mettle in firing a third round 68 on the WGC – Cadillac Championship here at Trump National Doral.
Warren, competing in the $US 9.25m event for a first time in his career, birdied five of his opening six holes including posting five ‘3s’ in succession from the second in an eventual round of 69 for a one over par tally.
Despite a double bogey at seven where Warren found water he regrouped to hit one of his best shots of the day, a 138-yard wedge to just four feet at the par three 15th for birdie and then grabbed a seventh birdie of the day in blasting out from a 16th hole greenside bunker and also hole a four feet putt.
Scotland’s Marc Warren continues to impress in his first WGC – Cadillac appearance and now looking to finish top-10 and a start in next week’s Valspar Championship. (Photo – Fran Caffrey/www.golffile.ie)
However ranked Warren let slip his good work with back-to-back bogeys at 17 and then at 18 where he found the water guarding the green down the last.
“It was a great and aside from the last two holes, it was a great ball-striking round and I’m very pleased,” he said.
“My first six holes were just flawless before one stupid mistake at seven with my tee shot there being two yards from pitching into the hole.
“But then it could have been so much lower as I had so many other chances with birdie putts inside 10-feet at eight and 12, and so many other chances.
“It was just a mental mistake on 17 and then at 18 I hit a pure drive that rolled down into the water but then when I hit my 5-iron shot I was thinking of throwing a club in the water (smiling) but that’s already been done before this week so I stopped myself.”
Warren arrived in Miami lying 54th on the World Rankings and with a top-10 finish assured of seeing the Scot tee up in this week’s Valspar Championship.
And there is the bigger reward if he should break into the top-50 of a start in next fortnight’s Arnold Palmer Invitational and a first appearance next month at Augusta National.
However with a round to play at Doral Warren is committed to heading to Tampa Bay on the west coast of Florida and tee-up in a Monday qualifier for the $US 5.9m event.
“Apart from the U.S Open qualifiers at Walton Heath each year, the last time I entered a Monday qualifier for a tournament in the same week was when Scott Jamieson were over in the States and we entered a qualifier for the Honda Classic,” he said
“So while heading straight over to Tampa after finishing here tomorrow is not ideal, I’m still prepared to tee up on Monday and try and grab one of the four spots into the Valspar.”
Of course, should Warren finish top-10 then he move inside the top-50 on the rankings and meaning he’s not only into the Valspar but will earn a start in next fortnight’s Arnold Palmer Invitational.
And should Warren remain inside the top-50 by the end of March he will receive an invitation to take a maiden drive down Magnolia Lane.
