Dubai: First reserve Marc Warren revealed he was out on the putting green after dark using the light from his coaches’ mobile phone to see the ball on Wednesday, after getting a last minute call-up to Thursday’s DP World Tour Championship.

The 36-year-old Scotsman is 63rd in the Race to Dubai and otherwise wouldn’t have featured in this top-60 European Tour year-ender, however Rory McIlroy and Henrik Stenson’s injury pull-outs took the call-up to 62. And then just before the tournament, Matthew Southgate also withdrew with a wrist injury, meaning Warren, who is in Dubai on holiday with his family, was also included.

“I got the phone call at 3.30pm on Wednesday afternoon when I was in the pool with my son,” he said. “So, I got dried off and quickly changed.

“My manager drove me up to the course and we managed to get half an hour’s practice in before it got dark.

“We thought there were going to be floodlights, but they weren’t on, so my coach used the light from his mobile phone.”

To make up for this less than perfect preparation, he also did two hours warm-up on the greens before his round on Thursday, which is double what he normally does before a round.

“The speed of greens are tricky, and you probably need a couple of days to get used to them,” said Warren, who shot an opening level par 72, playing alongside day one leader Patrick Reed.

“His putting was really impressive, everything that was barely hole-able was in the middle,” he said of Reed, who shot an opening 65 to lead by a stroke. “I was a little bit jealous watching that, now I can see why he’s one of the best players in the world.”

Asked if the last minute call-up had messed with his psychology coming into this event, he said: “I have no-one else to blame but myself. And will use this as motivation not to be in this position again.

“I was really grateful that Matthew made the right decision for both of us, but also for him, no one wants to see him start and then withdraw.”

Of his birdie on the 18th to finish level par, he said: “It was nice to finally feel like I was getting a read on greens and getting the pace a bit better. If I keep striking the ball and giving myself chances like that, it will be an improvement.”