Scots duo get back in groove at Grove
MARC WARREN and Scott Jamieson will have private agendas at the back of their minds when they start their final rounds today in the British Masters. Hunting down the tournament leader Alex Noren is probably beyond their reach as they trailed the Swede by six shots at The Grove club near Watford.
However, both Scots yesterday worked their way into a five-way tie for 10th place and within reach of banking a sizeable chunk of the £3million prize fund.
For Warren, currently 70th in the Race to Dubai, he needs the cash to climb up the 10 places in the money list and earn a ticket to play in Europe’s end-of-season final series which end with the DP World Tour Championship in the Desert next month.
Meanwhile, the rungs on the ladder which Jamieson needs to climb either today or at this week’s Portugal Masters are from 117 to 110 on the money list to secure his playing card for next season and avoid a dreaded trip to Q School in Spain.
Jamieson looked to have that well within his reach early in yesterday’s third round which began in a share of fourth place two shots adrift of the English halfway leader Richard Bland.
He halved that gap by sinking a 12 foot birdie on the first green but, while happy with his play from tee to green on his way to shooting a level-par 71, he did struggle to hole putts.
And a chip in birdie at the 10th and good nine-iron approach to the 14th were cancelled out by three bogeys. However, he was a shade unlucky at the 17th where his drive found a fairway bunker and ended up in an almost unplayable plugged lie.
And he said afterwards that he felt confident his 2017 card could be secured later today.
‘I played solid golf,’ declared Jamieson. ‘And, if I have another solid round, I should be fine.’
If Jamieson cursed his luck in that bunker, Warren had a big slice head his way as he complied a two-under-par 69 yesterday.
At the par four ninth he pushed his drive to the right and fear it was going into end up in some deep rough.
But it hit a tournament official’s motor buggy and bounced out on to the fairway and, from there, he hit an approach to 18 foot and made a birdie.
Warren felt there could have been more than three birdies on his card as he said: ‘I could have holed more putts, but I struggled with the pace of the greens.
‘While I hit a lot of good putts. I didn’t get the ball up the hole — so many of the putts ended up short.’
When asked about his chances of earning a place in the field for Dubai, Warren said: ‘It would be nice to have to book a flight.’
Not all the Scots in the field were in a talkative mood. Stephen Gallacher did not want to discuss a 70 which saw him drop outside the top 20 on the leaderboard.
Swede Noren (65) is three ahead of England’s Richard Bland (69) going into the final round, with four players — Austrian Bernd Wiesberger (67), South African Richard Sterne (67), Swede Peter Hanson (66) and Englishman Tommy Fleetwood (68) a shot further back on 12 under par.
Lee Westwood showed a welcome return to form as his 67 left him alongside German Marcel Siem in joint seventh, 11 under par.
And Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell was on his own in ninth place, 10 under par, after his 67 yesterday.
‘I’ve got the thunder back mentally again,’ he said.