ABU DHABI HSBC GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP

November 8, 2024

Paul Waring

Yas Links

Quick Quotes

Q. Let's start with the facts first of all. Lowest round of your European Tour DP World Tour career, course record, and we think it's the lowest 36 hole total at 19-under, finished with an incredible fairway wood into the last. Describe that shot?

PAUL WARING: Well that was the best shot I've ever hit in my life to be honest. Yeah, had left myself 262, 265, something like that to the last.

Again, the tee shot on 18 was a little bit peculiar for me because I had been hitting it great all day. So even over that 3-wood I felt like could I hit a solid shot into the part of the green and just hit a little draw. One of the best shots I've hit.

Q. Talk about the early part of the round. You birdied, 3, 4, 5, holed your second shot at 6. What are you thinking as that unfolded?

PAUL WARING: Honestly I'm just trying to keep going, keep making birdies. My caddie made the remark a few days ago, we played a little bit golf at Trump over in Dubai and we played the Fire Course at Jumeirah Golf Estates as well and for those two rounds, I actually had 50 percent birdies. We were having a bit of a laugh yesterday because I had nine birdies yesterday. So that was 50 percent.

So he said today, right, every round, you've got 50 percent birdies. So that was our goal if you know what I mean. So I was just trying to keep going and try to keep making as many birdies as I could. So I wasn't even conscious of the score today. It was obviously a great pitch on 6 to hole it but even from there, par 5 next, chances still coming.

Q. You came into the week 48th in The Race to Dubai, it would be easy to imagine would you say right, I need to secure my place in the Top-50 and make that DP World Tour Championship. You were saying yesterday you've got bigger goals than that. Tell us about that.

PAUL WARING: Yeah, it's very easy to say, yeah, I want to play next week, and I do want to play next week. But there are bigger things in my career that I do want to go and do and as I said yesterday, top 25 spots get an Open spot next year, that's something I want to try and achieve and two weeks, if I get somewhere near a PGA TOUR card.

I know that's a big ask and going to require a couple of thirds or a couple of seconds or something like that but we are still playing golf at the end of the year. Feel like I'm playing well. Why not have those goals.

Q. Your thoughts going into the weekend in this incredibly strong position with this platform to build on?

PAUL WARING: Obviously feel great. Swinging it great. Putter is behaving. That's I'd say a weak spot for me now and again but I've done a lot of work on it, and since moving over to Dubai, I'm very used to these style of greens, as well, so I feel like I can read the greens well.

The thing is, though, I've got a nice lead at the moment but even before I tee off tomorrow, someone might have caught me. While I'm in the lead at the moment, and if we are rational about this, everyone is still going to fire a lot of birdies in there.

So if I'm going to be involved on Sunday afternoon, I've still got to keep going the way I am and I know that. That's a nice thing for me to know that, I just have to keep making birdies, keep going, keep going, and we'll add them all up after Sunday afternoon.