Marc Warren has had a turbulent five years since winning the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, but the Scot is now keen to show that he is back to top form.
Warren looked to have the game at his feet when he captured his second European Tour title at The Gleneagles Hotel in 2007 and two months later partnered Colin Montgomerie to World Cup glory.
A dip in form saw Warren lose his card at the end of 2010, and while his win here five years ago remains his most recent European Tour title, the 32 year old has made an impressive return to form.
Fresh from his best performance in a Major Championship after coming 12th at the US PGA Championship, Warren has also come close to winning at Wentworth and in Spain this year and sits 18th on The Race to Dubai.
“I've never really played as well as that in a Major before,” said Warren. “To finish one shot out of the top ten, I was really pleased.
“To put good scores together after that in the weekend was very satisfying and to finish 12th was a really good result.
“I think the last couple of years, I've consistently done pretty well at European Tour level, so to do well at the next level up again, Major level, is really satisfying.
“To know that everything I'm working on, my game is obviously getting better and standing up to those types of pressures.
“From short game to driving, everything's got to be pretty much spot on. Every part of my game is strong enough to compete, I would say, at that level, especially the scores I showed on the last three days.
“It was always a belief that I had, so I when I lost my card, it was disappointing and tough at the time. I suppose looking back it gives you that extra bit of impetus, that extra kick up the back side I suppose, all the changes I made, time to start showing through and that I was going to start improving.
“I was fortunate, because The European Tour supported me for the start of that year and gave me quite a few invites to play. I had a couple of decent results and then in Dubai I finished top 20.”
With some fine form behind him Warren is confident that he is ready to put in another title challenge this week.
“It's a golf course I've always enjoyed playing,” he added. “I have a win here and I think I have a few other decent results, as well. It's quite a long golf course, if you drive it well, you can definitely make a lot of birdies.
“I think the changes they have made to the course make it even better. 18, the green, I think that can make it exciting and I think you can make eagle. The hole plays shorter and it's easier on Sunday to make eagle but you can also make five or six.
“I think condition wise, it's the best I've ever seen it. I think we hear a lot of guys saying that it's the best we've seen the course this week.
“Going to back to the win, it's always nice to return to a place where you've won before, good memories, and you always get asked questions about when you won. It brings back a lot of good memories, and I will definitely be drawing on a lot of those memories this week.”
