Warren rues Par 5's as Jamieson claims strong finish in Dubai

Nov 28 2012 by Paul Thomson, East Kilbride News

Marc Warren believes his performance on the par 5s cost him at the World Tour Championships in Dubai after he held the lead with world number one Rory McIllroy.

The 31-year-old, who grew up in Stewartfield, played some scintillating golf on Thursday and Friday to hold his own alongside McIllroy and former world number one Luke Donald.

And going into Saturdays penultimate round, the honourary East Kilbride Golf Club member shared the lead with McIllroy and partnered the Northern Irishman for the third round.

However, Warren could only shoot a level-par 72 on Saturday and saw his chances of a famous victory disappear as he slipped down the leaderboard and finished tied for 26th come the close of play on Sunday. Rounds of 66, 67,72 and 73 left him 13 shots off the winning score of 23 under.

Two-time Major winner McIllroy took the trophy and Warren admitted his poor record on the par 5s were to blame for him falling away.

He told the News: The first three days I played really well and when it came to the Sunday I just felt really flat.

I was six shots back and there were some quality players around me so I knew I had too much to do at that stage.

But the problem was the par 5s. When I looked at the stats I was really disappointed with myself. Over the course of the week I played the par 5s on two over par and thats not good enough.

Going into the final day I think I was one over on them for the week and Rory was at eight under, so that shows you the difference.

Ive no doubt if I scored better on the par 5s I would have still been right up there on Sunday.

On Sunday I still battled away really well and I was pleased with my short game because I hit poorly off the tee, but my short game is coming along well and that saved me a few times.

The weekend play was not as strong as it has been, which is unusual for me this season I normally get better as the week goes on.

But theres still a lot of positives to take from this and I really enjoyed it.

The pairings I had with Rory and Luke certainly made Friday and Saturday a lot of fun, and thats the kind of position I want to be in on a regular basis.

The weekend brought the 2012 season to a close and it has been one of mixed emotion for Warren. His debut at a Major Championship, the US Open, in June was followed by a collapse at the Scottish Open. Similar to Dubai, he led the field but dropped back to third, which cost him a place at the Open Championship the following week.

However, he picked himself up from that disappointment and produced consistent play to qualify for the end of season showpiece in Dubai.

Meanwhile, fellow East Kilbridian Scott Jamieson also played some fine stuff at the Jumeriah Golf Estates course as he tied for 14th. The Cathkin Braes man was the top Scot in the 56-man field after shooting rounds of 68, 69,72 and 66 to finish 13 under.

The result leaves Jamieson ranked 53 in Europe and 168 in the world rankings, while Warren is 55 and 182, respectively.

Meanwhile, the duo kick-off the 2013 campaign early with two events in South Africa coming in the first two weeks of December.