Paul Waring is hoping his game is rounding into form after putting his injury troubles behind him as he aims to kickstart a productive second half of 2026 on the DP World Tour at the BMW International Open.
The Englishman broke back into the top 100 on the Official World Golf Ranking towards the end of 2024, shortly after he won his first Rolex Series title in Abu Dhabi as he earned dual membership on the PGA TOUR.
However, any hope of carrying over that momentum into his rookie year stateside was dashed by a shoulder injury that saw him take painkillers and undergo a cortisone injection.
After 11 missed cuts in 12 starts on the PGA TOUR, he withdrew from the Genesis Scottish Open last summer and was then absent from competitive golf for almost six months.
Since his return to action at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in honour of Gary Player last December, he has made 13 appearances worldwide, six on a medical exemption on the PGA TOUR.
But his focus is now back on the DP World Tour – where he is a two-time winner – and a first-round bogey-free six-under 66 at Golfclub München Eichenried was giving him plenty of reason for optimism.
"Obviously, very pleased to be in and around the leaders on day one," said Waring, who was two shots adrift of South African pacesetting duo Jayden Schaper and Hennie du Plessis after the morning wave completed their rounds.
"I played lovely today to be honest with you. It was very simple golf. I had a lot of control over the golf ball. I took advantage of the par fives. And as I say, just kept hitting solid golf shot after solid golf shot. So yeah, made-up at the start.
"Actually, it's one of my first rounds, I think, without a five. As I say, there's a lot of really good golf.
"I've been working hard on my short game as well, which is the reason I managed to take advantage of the par fives. I think I hit every green really. So again, there's a lot of real solid ball striking. It's just nice to actually put a real nice round together.
"It's funny, like results wise it's hard to see, but like there's been patches within tournaments I've been playing where I felt like I've been moving forward really well, hitting some really good golf shots and having a run of golf holes where I've been gaining a lot of confidence.
"So, I felt like this was kind of coming a little bit, sort of a nice day at some point. It was nice to take advantage of it.
"Disappointing last year to have that little shoulder niggle which just put me back on PGA TOUR, sadly.
"But as I say, I feel like my body's in a good place again now. I can move well. I feel like I'm just as strong as I have been. I'm hitting the ball off the tee as long as I ever have. So I feel like I'm in a good place."
As the DP World Tour's European Swing comes to a close this week, with the return of the US$9 million Genesis Scottish Open to follow, several players in the midst of their rookie campaigns on the PGA TOUR are in action in Germany.
Among those are Waring's close friend Marco Penge and defending champion Daniel Brown and renewing those well-forged ties are something the 41-year-old is embracing.
"I love playing on the DP World Tour," he said. "I've got a lot of friends over here, so it's great to be back.
"I call this family here, so I'm really happy to play the rest of the season this side of the pond.
"There's a great group of lads on this tour. There is in America, but there's some real good lads over here.
"We all get along great and it's quite good for you to drag each other along as well.
"It's not just a boys' club. We are trying to all beat each other, which is good, but there's just that nice sort of friendly element outside of that as well."
