Rory McIlroy, Paul Waring, Bernhard Langer, President-Elect Trump (clockwise from top left).
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Graduation.
After his first round at this week's Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, Paul Waring admitted that he had his sights set high.
At 39, Waring is nobody's idea of a rising star. The Englishman came into the week as a solid member of pro golf's upper-middle class, sitting at No. 48 in the DP World Tour's Order of Merit and with one career win, the 2018 Nordea Masters, to his name. But after opening with 8-under 64 in his 332nd DP World Tour start, Waring admitted he was chasing another win and everything that comes with it.
"There's other targets [beyond this week], obviously Top-25 for The Open, PGA Tour cards. There's so much money to play for these last two events. Two solid weeks will push me right up the list. That's the goal I'm actually going with. It would be great to play next week, don't get me wrong, but the target's a little bit bigger than that in my eyes," he said.
Then came Friday, when Waring brought Yas Links to its knees with a course-record, 11-under 61 that got him to an outrageous 19 under through two rounds. Again he admitted he was thinking bigger picture.
"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 [see] if I get somewhere near a PGA Tour card."
His comments were a sign of the times. I wrote last week about the current state of the DP World Tour, which is stuck between identities -- it's a stopoff for big-time PGA Tour stars, it's an outlet for semi-eligible LIV pros and it's a truly global tour with an epic international schedule but it's also a feeder tour, granting its 10 best pros PGA Tour cards for the following season and taking some cast-offs who fall outside full PGA Tour status in return. The DPWT seems like a fantastic place to play, it has a better-than-ever schedule and it's shown gains in spectators as well as TV ratings -- and yet it's clearly not the pinnacle of competitive golf.
Back to Waring, then, who weathered a middling third-round 73 and held just a one-shot lead as play finished on Saturday and he delivered this pithy British perspective as he stared down the thought of a sleepless night and a Sunday battle.