Marc Warren has seen both sides of Twitter and while one’s going on his bag, the other’s going to be ignored.
The Scot has the Help For Heroes logo in a prominent position on his golf bag for the first time for the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth this week as a result of a Twitter link but the “trolls” on the social media site have almost driven him off.
Mean-spirited and abusive tweets about the Scot’s losses in the Scottish Open and the Spanish Open last month, after previous tweets about him following Rangers, were dispiriting, he admitted.
“It’s been ridiculous. The Rangers/Celtic thing raises its ugly head every single time, people saying ‘I wanted you to win until I found out you are a Hun’, all that sort of stuff,” he said.
“I’ve probably brought some of that stuff upon myself by putting a bit of banter on Twitter myself, about Rangers or Celtic, but it’s never been in a hatred sort of way. What I’ve been getting back is way beyond banter, it’s just abuse.”
On the other hand, the link with Help For Heroes came from the same source, after he tweeted a message of support for servicemen.
“I got asked when I was in Spain if I would get involved, and I said yes straight away,” he said.
“It’s an honour, they don’t have many ambassadors and I’ll be carrying the logo from this week on, helping raise some money and awareness.
“Even talking about the abuse I got, this puts that totally in perspective. We’re just hitting a golf ball round a field and it’s unbelievable what the soldiers do for us, like the three Scottish lads who were killed just a few weeks ago.”
Meanwhile, Warren is taking all positives from his Spanish experience, when he led with two holes to play but ended up not making the play-off.
“It was a very positive week to be in a position to win again,” he said.
“But if I’m honest, it was wedge play again. Didn’t give myself enough chances, didn’t hole enough putts in that position.
“The over-riding emotion a month later is frustration that it didn’t work out, but frustration can be a great thing to build on.”
People will question Warren’s character after losing in Spain and his loss in the Scottish Open last year, but all his four professional wins two on the European Tour have been in pressure-filled play-offs.
He said: “Tee to green I don’t think I’ve struck it better than I am in this period of my life, nowhere near it.
“The problem has been my wedges, and there’s just been too big a distance between the ones I’ve been using and it cost me in Spain, but I’ve sorted that out now.”
Balanced by the birth of his first child last month, Warren feels in great nick coming into what he describes as “the proper season” starting this week at Wentworth.
“The European season really is Wentworth onwards. I’ve had two weeks off before the BMW PGA, and I had a bit of work to do, but I’m fresh and ready now.”