Open but career not incomplete without it
“One of the mistakes I felt I made was sitting down. I didn’t tighten up or seize up but I lost a bit of adrenalin.
“So I made the conscious effort at Wentworth to stay on my feet and keep moving when we had a big delay on the 17th tee. I then felt a lot more engaged for the last couple of holes than I had been at Castle Stuart.
“I didn’t win. But I felt like I made the right decisions and came away mentally in a completely different place.”
Warren, who rejuvenated his flagging career by capturing the Austrian Open title in July, reckons this week’s event will still have a strong emotional pull, even in the absence of spectators.
“It’s still our national Open, and as big as it’s ever been,” he stressed. “But losing out on the fans is a little bit frustrating.
“But if you’re standing with the trophy, you’re still the winner of the Scottish Open, and it’s taking nothing away from you.”
It’s no coincidence surely that Warren invariably performs best in the bigger events when his talents come to the fore in the chase to land the most-lucrative prizes on the Race To Dubai.
But he insisted: “It’s not a conscious thing, because every time I play I want to do well. I used lockdown quite well in terms of getting fitter and stronger.
“In the situation I was in, I wanted to make sure I was prepared as best I possibly could and to hit the ground running in Austria was a dream come true.
“But getting back in to events through the winner’s category felt a bit surreal, especially after the way I’d played the last couple of years.”