Paul

Waring

The 37-year-old Waring opened the week by matching the course record, carding a 9-under 63 to take the lead, and he followed up with a 70 to hold his advantage on the leaderboard heading into the weekend. His runner-up result is his best finish on the DPWT since winning the 2018 Nordea Masters, his first and only win to date. On the season, Waring has made six cuts in 12 starts with one other top 10 – a T-10 at the Scandinavian mixed in June. He’s in the field this week for the Hero Open in Scotland, where he’ll make his second event appearance after missing the cut in 2021.

The Englishman’s participation was in doubt after he tweeted yesterday: “I’ve had to pull out of this morning’s #QatarMasters pro am due to a neck injury. I’ve had plenty of treatment on it and tomorrow’s afternoon tee time allows me to get some more treatment before I warm up. Fingers crossed I should be ok to play.” But the condition didn’t improve and he tweeted Thursday: “Sadly not to be. My neck has improved but not up to hitting driver. I’ve got a good few weeks break now to get the body sorted.” We’ll keep a close eye on how his condition progresses.

At the end of last year the Englishman, who had won a maiden title in the summer, didn’t make this tournament and delayed starting this season. He needed the break and to stop a post-win rot. He then pegged T6-T3 in Abu Dhabi and Dubai to begin the year and he was away. In fact he missed just two cuts all campaign and collected 13 top 25s, including six in a row as he arrives back in the Middle East. He has played the tournament once before, when T31 in 2017 after carding rounds of 70-74-70-67.

The Englishman entered the week ranked in the top 20 on the Race to Dubai after a consistent run of results and put an eagle on his card at just the second hole. But, from there, it was a mix. He bogeyed 2, hit back with red circles at 6 and 8 but needed seven swishes on the par-5 9th. Waring recovered quickly with par breakers at 10 and 12 before a bogey-birdie trade at 16 and 17. Despite his run of seven finishes of T28 or better, he’s broken just 70 in one of his last six openers. He’ll hope he can use this strong start to fuel a big week. This is his third appearance at Sun City, previously finishing T19 and T35.

It is quite the season that the Englishman has put together, with 12 top 25 finishes and, in fact, he hasn’t ended a week outside the top 30 since the Open. It’s a fine follow-up to his first win at European Tour level in 2018 and has lifted him to 19th in the Race to Dubai rankings, comfortably his best effort in eight tries (he’s been on tour since 2008 but has lost four seasons to injury). This week will see him make a third start at the Gary Player Country Club. He was T19 in 2018 and T35 last year, ending that effort with his first sub-70 score on the layout.

The Englishman opened his week with a messy lap of 73, but since then he has caught fire and he backed up his second round 65 with this Moving day effort. He started like a train with three birdies in a row from the get-go and added another at the ninth, but started and ended the back nine with errors – at the 11th and 18th. In-between he continued the birdie barrage, ticking the 13th, 15th, 16th and 17th. He needed just 1.500 putts per GIR in round three, his best effort of the week. “It’s nice competing on this stage, not just turning up and not being a part of the tournament,” he said. “I’m also really dialed in, so giving myself chances a lot.”

The Englishman certainly enjoyed the second round of his World Golf Championship debut at the Sheshan International GC. Having littered his opening lap with three bogeys and a double bogey-7, he kept the card free of mistakes on Friday. He opened with eight pars to give little hint of the drama to come, but an eagle-3 at the 18th started the drive into contention (albeit he remains five swings back of the leader Matthew Fitzpatrick). He added birdies at the first and third before circling three-in-a-row at the sixth, seventh and eighth. He’s landed just 6-of-14 fairways in R1, but upped that to 12 in R2. He also went 3-for-3 in Scrambling after lurching to 2-for-6 on Thursday.

That was two swings back from winner Victor Perez. The Englishman made a birdie-bogey start in Scotland today but picked up another shot at five before a run of eight pars. Two circles at 14 and 16 kept him in the hunt but he bogeyed the Road Hole and could only par the last. Earlier this week, Waring had fired rounds of 65 at both Kingsbarns and Carnoustie so just didn’t do enough at the Old Course where he posted laps of 68 and 70. “A little disappointed,” he said. “Just didn’t quite hit it close enough during the day and putter was very cold today. Obviously to finish top five in such a prestigious event, that’s a real bonus. That’s a good thing. But I really felt like I gave myself a chance of winning this week and a little disappointed right now.” He’ll ease some of that by checking the Race to Dubai standings where he’s projected to rise to 23rd.

That’s two swings back from joint-leaders Matthew Southgate and Victor Perez. Waring was quick out of the gate today, playing his first five holes in -4 after birdies at 10 and 12 followed by eagle-3 at 14. On his second nine he ticked 3, 4 and 8. The Englishman’s only bogey so far this week has come on the tough 17th at St Andrews, where he shot 68 on day two. He said: “Anything under par around Carnoustie you always take, especially with quite a stiff breeze out there. Pleased to shoot as low as I did and get myself involved with the tournament. I think when I’m happy and I’m having fun, I feel like I’m at my best. Been swinging the club well for a while now. It’s purely dependent on the putter for me. If I hole a few putts, I’ll give myself a chance.” Waring is the only one of the top three with a European Tour win to his name.

The Englishman was becalmed for eight holes of his first round, writing down par on each of those openers, but when he finally added a circle around a number he couldn’t stop. He repeated the mark on the tenth, 11th and 12th, then also brandished one at the 17th, but not before he double circled the 16th for an eagle-3. He’s not had the best of summers, managing just the two top tens, but both of them hinted that he might do well this week. The first was in the British Masters at Hillside, the second the Irish Open at Lahinch – both, of course, links tracks. He heads to the Old Course for round two, two swings back of first round leader Justin Walters.