David GonzalezA bogey-free 63 carried Marc Warren to 14 under in Portugal, but the more revealing detail may be the driver change that has restored some order to his game off the tee.
Marc Warren has spent much of the past few weeks wrestling with his driving. On Friday at the Open de Portugal, he made the game look rather less complicated.
Eight birdies, no bogeys and a second-round 63 took the 45-year-old Scotsman to 14 under par, one shot clear of first-round leader Jannik de Bruyn and Japan’s Tatsunori Shogenji.
More interestingly for Warren, the round offered further evidence that a recent equipment change may have solved a problem at exactly the right time.
Golfers are forever being told not to blame the tools. Warren has complicated that sermon rather nicely.
A 63 built on patience rather than pursuit
Warren began from the tenth and immediately birdied it, although the morning did not instantly dissolve into a flag-hunting exercise.
There were chances missed before further birdies arrived at the 15th and 16th, sending him through his opening nine in 33. Then came five more on the front side and a spotless card.
The scoring conditions were inviting. Warren knew it, but his better decision was resisting the temptation to behave as though birdies were compulsory.
“A good day for myself,” he said. “It was a great start this morning; conditions were perfect, so I was delighted to get out and take advantage of that.
“The conditions were so good that it’s important to get off to a good start. I made birdie at the first and missed a few chances after that, but my patience was really good and obviously a good reward in the end.”
That word — patience — kept returning.
“You’ve got to let the birdies come to you and not force it too much. I felt like I did a really good job at that today.”
Eight of them eventually came to him. Very obliging.
The driver change behind Warren’s improved position
There is another reason Warren appears rather more comfortable this week.
He changed driver at last week’s English Trophy after struggling off the tee for the previous four or five weeks. He felt the improvement immediately in England and has carried it into Portugal.
“I haven’t been that great off the tee over the last four or five weeks, but I got a new driver last week,” he said. “I drove it well in England and then carried that form into this week.”
On a tree-lined course, that matters. Warren’s assessment is refreshingly uncomplicated: find the correct piece of short grass and the course begins offering considerably friendlier second shots.
“It’s a treeline course this week so if you’re driving it well, you’re going to have a lot of wedges into the green. But even with wedges it’s important just to go for the middle of the greens and hope the putter is working.”
So far, it has been a fairly useful combination.
The larger target is the DP World Tour
This is not simply a good week appearing from nowhere on Warren’s calendar.
Earlier this year he made his 500th DP World Tour appearance at the Austrian Alpine Open, becoming one of only 51 players to reach the landmark. He has won four times on that Tour and has made his objective for this season plain: he wants back.
“I’m trying to get back out there. I felt as if the main reason I lost my card a couple of years ago was through injury, so I feel as if I’ve still got a bit to offer, still got a little bit of game left in me.”
For a player with 500 appearances behind him, “a little bit of game” is doing some fairly heavy lifting.
Warren has twice won on the HotelPlanner Tour, but his focus remains on returning to the circuit on which he built the greater part of his career.
“Like I said, it’s about that word again: patience; it’s trying to let the results happen rather than trying to force them, and a massive goal is getting back out there on the DP World Tour.”
One shot clear, with plenty still attached
Warren’s 14-under total gives him only the narrowest of cushions.
De Bruyn and Shogenji sit one behind, while Spain’s Santiago Tarrio, Sweden’s Tobias Jensen Eden and Denmark’s Sebastian Friedrichsen are tied two shots back on 12 under.
Warren will play alongside de Bruyn and Shogenji in Saturday’s third round, teeing off at 12:06 pm local time. Play begins at 8:05 am.
For now, his plan is almost aggressively sensible.
“I’ll be hoping for more of the same tomorrow; 14 under for two rounds means your game is in pretty good shape. I’ll try and not overthink it or anything and have a pretty easy afternoon, and get ready to go again at the weekend.”
A new driver, a one-shot lead and no desire to interfere with either. Golf has offered worse weekend plans.
