Charles

Warren

Can’t blame the long-hitter since he’s 57th on the Nationwide Tour money list, which gives him a better chance of securing fully-exempt status on the PGA TOUR in 2012, but his best finish on the PGA TOUR over the last three-and-a-half years was a T6 at last year’s Frys.com at CordeValle. Warren is 214th on the PGA TOUR money list with four paydays in 10 starts. He was the first alternate at the Frys.com when the field was published on Friday afternoon.

The 37-year-old former PGA TOUR member accepted a job with Arthur J. Gallagher in his residence of Greenville, S.C. As for his decision to leave the life as a touring professional, the husband and father of two took a pragmatic approach. “I last played [full-time] on the PGA Tour in 2010, and I really gave myself two years to get back there,” he told Upstate Business Journal. “In 2011 and 2012 I was playing on the Web.com Tour. ... I wasn’t playing great, and I wasn’t into it, and wasn’t happy with it. If you aren’t in the right place mentally, you can’t do it effectively at all. You can’t do it unless you are 100 percent committed. Then, last October, I decided it was time for a new chapter. ... I didn’t want to spend five or six years on the Web.com Tour trying to get back out there while also managing family life and home life.” Warren went 105-for-197 on the PGA TOUR for $5.14 million. His career-best finish was a co-runner-up at the 2007 Reno-Tahoe Open.

A 74 on Friday took him out of contention for the win, but he bounced back nicely on the weekend.

Warren made seven birdies, an eagle, and no birdies on a very windy day at the Montreux Golf and Country Club and moved up 52 spots on the leader board. He’s had a tough 2007 with only one top-10 finish on the PGA Tour, and that coming in his first of 21 starts. Fantasy managers may want to watch Warren as he leads the Tour in total driving (distance and accuracy) and has a penchant for eagles, currently ranking fourth in that department (after also finishing fourth in 2006).

Warren had his chances today to finish in solo second place, but a bogey on the par-4 15th and a missed birdie putt on the 18th left him in a tie. Still, the T-2 is his best finish on the PGA Tour and the $264,000 check is the biggest of his career.

Charles Warren played in the last group of the day and was in competing for the lead until he put a shot in the water on the 15th hole, which resulted in a bogey. He still had chance to catch clubhouse leader Phil Mickelson with two birdies in his final three holes, but he missed putts on the 16th and 17th holes to end his chance of getting into a playoff. Still, the third place finish is his best result on Tour since a T-2 at last year’s Reno-Tahoe Open.

No stranger to birdies, Warren had six of them today and holds the clubhouse lead as the afternoon wave finishes up. He hit 16 GIR today, a terrific sign that his trusty iron game is in midseason form. Warren is an average putter so he needs to find the green with his approaches more than most. He has never won on the PGA Tour.

Warren has a third place finish at the FBR Open and two missed cuts in his last three events. His best finish at the Honda Classic was last year, when he tied for 31st place.

Warren missed just one (of 14) fairways and two GIR en route to a share of the clubhouse lead. Stuck with conditional status, this is just his 11th event of 2009, but he’s a mild sleeper in weekly leagues because of his above-average ball-striking.

Warren started the week as the seventh alternate and gets in with Brad Adamonis’ withdrawal. (Troy Kelly and Tyler Aldridge also withdrew as alternates on Monday.) Warren has a pair of T-10s at this event and could be a factor again. He needs to bank about $375K to lock up fully exempt status for 2010. Scott Sterling and Tag Ridings also withdrew as alternates today to play in the Soboba Classic on the Nationwide Tour (with Kelly and Aldridge).