Gutsy Marc Warren conjures up some Mallorcan magic to get back on DP World Tour

With eight holes to play in the final round of the Grand Final on the HotelPlanner Tour at Club de Golf Alcanada in Port d’Alcudia, the 45-year-old - the oldest player in the 45-strong field - had slipped to 22nd on the projected Road to Mallorca Rankings and needed to climb into the top 15 to secure his seat back at the top table.

Birdies at the 11th and 13th - two par 5s - were badly needed before it then started to get really exciting indeed for a group of family and friends biting their nails as they followed the East Kilbride man in his quest to win back the full status he lost at the end of the 2023 season.

He holed out from a greenside bunker for a birdie-2 at the short 14th before almost emulating the feat at the 15th, a driveable par 4. Mark Roe, one of the Sky Sports Golf commentators, reckoned they were the “best back-to-back bunker shots” Warren had probably hit in his career.

All of a sudden, the man with 500 DP World Tour appearances under hit belt had jumped to 13th on the projected list only for an untimely bogey at the par-3 17th, where he went through the back of the green, to drop him to the 15th and final position in the season-long card battle.

A par at the last might well have been good enough but, equally, it might not have. His second shot went past the hole and ended up on the fringe, leaving him with a treacherous downhill putt that had a big right-to-left break on it. It could have been easy to send the birdie attempt four or five feet past the hole and then miss the next one.

For a split second, it looked as though the ball might stop agonisingly on the edge before it dropped in, raising one of the biggest roars of the day on a lovely autumn day in the Balearic Islands. Signing off with a 69 for a 15-under-par total, Warren finished joint-fifth for the week and 13th on that all-important points list.

His dad Bobby was there to give him a huge hug coming off the green before Jose Maria Olazabal - the two-time Masters champion had been following Joseba Torres, his nephew, in the same group - did likewise. Guy Kinnings, the DP World Tour CEO, also gave him a warm handshake as he came out of the scoring office with a huge smile on his face.

“I had a look at the leaderboard and thought I needed that putt on 18,” Warren admitted to The Scotsman. “But there was so much break and also so fast that I didn’t want to give myself a tricky four or five footer coming back. So to see it drop in was great and to see the smiles on the faces of family and friends makes it all worthwhile.”

Dane Hamish Brown topped the rankings ahead of Frenchman Julien Sale, who jumped five spots on the back of winning the final event by four shots, with others to secure coveted cards including English trio John Gough, Will Enefer and Andrew Wilson, as well as Irishman Liam Nolan.

“We kind of said yesterday that there might be a point where you have to put the foot down a little bit and I knew with a couple of par 5s playing downwind on the back nine that I had to birdie then and also pick up another two or three elsewhere,” said Warren of coming home in 32 when he needed one of the best back nines of his career.

“I really liked the look of the bunker shot on 14, so I was even in the mindset about that being an opportunity. I was then trying to hole the bunker shot on 15 as well. So I was getting pretty greedy at that point. It was great.

“Unfortunately, I hit a really good shot on 17, but we just picked the wrong club there. I thought we were better being a bit aggressive rather than playing for the front part of the green, but made money there.

“In some ways, though, that meant I had to make a birdie at 18. There was no playing safe at that stage for me. I knew we had to make 3 on 18. That meant three good shots were required and that’s what we got.”

In securing promotion, Warren will be back flying the Saltire on the DP World Tour next season along with the likes of Scott Jamieson, his close friend and a winner on the circuit this season in the Nexo Championship on home soil at Trump International Golf Links.

“Yeah, plenty of times, “ replied Warren to being asked if he’d ever doubted regaining his card. “because everyone is so good. But I did feel this year that I could get in the top 15. I felt I could win this year and, from the middle of the year on, I had a real comfort in my game. I didn’t have to do anything outwith what I am capable of. I didn’t have to force anything. I felt as if I had enough in me and also had the patience to get it done.”

Calum Fyfe, the other Scot in the field, finished 28th in the rankings - one spot higher than last year - after dropping four spots after ending up in a tie for 32nd on six under. His closing 69 was illuminated by an eagle-2 at the 14th.

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