Warren forced into extra holes after late slip
MARC Warren lost the last three holes to Brooks Koepka in their second-day match in the Wgccadillac Match Play at Harding Park in San Francisco.
That meant they headed into extra holes after the Scot had been firmly on course to make the last 16 on his debut in the £6 million event.
Warren looked set to follow up his 2&1 win over J.B. Holmes when he birdied the 15th to go three up on Koepka only to lose the 16 and 17th to pars then the 18th to a birdie.
There, Warren missed a short putt for victory after Koepka had almost holed from a greenside bunker for an eagle-3.
Warren had laid the foundations for getting the upper hand against Koepka by holing a tenfoot birdie putt at the par-5 first before the American, a winner in Phoenix this year and also a winner in Turkey at the end of last season, followed him in from six feet for a half.
Both players then missed the green at the second – a 200yard par-3 – but, for Koepka, that led to a double-bogey and Warren, who made 4 from a greenside bunker, had his nose in front.
He quickly went two up when Koepka, after finding sand with his approach, made another double-bogey at the third, but a hole-winning birdie at the next for the American from nine feet was more like him.
Warren’s second birdie of the day at the par-5 606-yard fifth took him two up again only for Koepka, the 2013 Scottish Hydro Challenge winner at Macdonald Spey Valley in Aviemore, to hit back once again by taking the seventh with a par-4.
The ding-dong battle continued when Warren birdied the eighth from six feet to give himself a cushion once more and, on this occasion, it led to him going three up as a tap-in par proved good enough to win the ninth as well.
Big-hitter Koepka drove the green at the 336-yard 12th to win it with a birdie-3 only for Warren to dampen his opponent’s enthusiasm for a late fightback by rolling in an 11-footer at the 15th for his fourth birdie of the day.
However, the last three holes turned into a disaster for the 34-year-old.
He had putts at each of them to clinch the win but failed to convert any of them. Having found the green in two at the par-5 last, he hit a great approach putt only to miss the next one from three feet.
Warren never trailed as he overcame managing only one birdie to beat Holmes, this season’s Houston Open winner, 2&1 in his opening game.
Making his debut in the event, Warren won three of the first four holes with pars to go three up before Holmes cut the deficit to one with birdies at the eighth and ninth.
Warren went two up again at the tenth but another brace of birdies from his opponent – at the 12th and 15th – squared the match.
Holmes then missed the green at the 16th, a driveable par-4, before putting his second shot in a greenside bunker, with Warren making the most of that mistake as the three-times European Tour winner won the hole with a birdie to edge in front again. There was to be no fightback from Holmes this time as a bogey proved good enough for Warren at the par-3 17th to secure a notable first-day victory.
Needing to win to stay alive, Thongchai Jaidee beat Jim Furyk 3&1. Stephen Gallacher, who suffered a 7&6 defeat at the hands of Hunter Mahan on Wednesday, was among the later starters on day two as he faced another former winner, Matt Kuchar.