Forget the healthy breakfast, some stretching exercises, an hour on the range from driver to lob-wedge, and 15 minutes on the putting green.
Marc Warren might have stumbled upon a pre-round routine that will set him up for Open glory watch a bit of schmaltzy American comedy in your car and then fall asleep.
When the Scot took refuge from the torrential rain as his tee-time was postponed for three-and-a-half hours, he ended up watching Everybody Loves Raymond.
By the time he finished his round and was seven under par for the championship, St Andrews Loved Marc. And St Andrews will love him even more if he is raising the Claret Jug on Sunday evening.
“During the delay I went back inside,” he said. “Sat in the players’ lounge again for about 45 minutes, and then I ended up actually going to the car, watched a bit of TV and ended up falling asleep, kind of dozing on and off.
“Everybody Loves Raymond was on Channel 4, just whatever was on TV.”
Warren had steeled himself for a battering from the early morning elements, so to be able to duck for cover was an unexpected bonus.
He said: “It was a long morning, obviously, with the delay. But it definitely worked in our favour.
“It was going to be tough if you had to go out and play in those conditions. The wind was up, which is kind of unusual I’d say at that time of the morning, and fortunately for me I had just started my warm-up and actually got to take shelter for a couple hours.
“The heavier stuff came in just after the delay started so I was delighted we didn’t have to go out in it.”
From there on, Warren made his own luck.
Four under overnight became seven under by the seventh, which at that point gave him a share of the championship lead.
Plenty of golfers would have averted their gaze from a leaderboard in those circumstances, but Warren felt comfortable enough to savour his mid-round achievement.
Now that he’s got that out of his system though, the next time he looks up at one will be with the cold eyes of a competitor.
He said: “I allowed myself to look at the leaderboard when I joined the lead with a couple other guys, and I was just trying to soak up that moment.
“It doesn’t happen every day and I tried to enjoy my name being there. I let myself do that because that was the first time I’ve been in that situation.
“If it’s tomorrow and Sunday, hopefully my name is in a pretty similar position. I’ll be looking at the leaderboard to see who’s there but I won’t be looking at it to enjoy it.”
Old Course pressure is nothing new to Warren.
He has fought (successfully) to secure his tour card in the Dunhill Links.
It is at the other end of the golfing scale to challenging for the Open title, but Warren believes the experience will stand him in good stead all the same.
“I hadn’t really done an awful lot that season,” he recalled. “I was kind of stop-start with getting a few invites.
“It’s a totally different side of the game than trying to win a golf tournament. You’re literally playing for your job and your livelihood.
“I feel as if I can come through that and still perform, especially in such a tough finish as we’ve got at St Andrews. I was brave enough to commit to my targets and hit the shots I had to then, so I don’t see why I won’t be able to do that this weekend.”
The Warren demeanour is impressive this week, and the Warren game equally so. But sterner tests of both await him, of course.
“I’m getting more and more used to playing tournaments like this,” he pointed out.
“The US Open was good. I had a really good week there and a good week last week as well.
“I’m pretty close to top 50 in the world and I’ve played a lot of the world events. I do feel comfortable.
“The game is in really good shape and I feel totally at ease on the golf course, just battling it and battling the conditions more than anything else. I certainly wasn’t battling myself.
“I’m pretty relaxed at this moment in time – just really enjoying the atmosphere. I’m relishing the opportunity ahead of me this weekend, enjoying the situation I’ve put myself into. This is a situation and something everyone dreams about who has played golf as a kid. To live out at least a part of that dream is pretty cool.”