Scottish Open: Marc Warren says event is 'fifth major' for Scots

Marc Warren was joint top Scot at the US Open in June

Marc Warren says victory at the Scottish Open would be like winning a major for him and his fellow Scots.

The European Tour event, which England's Justin Rose won in 2014, starts at Gullane on Thursday.

"For the Scottish guys it's definitely the fifth major," Warren, 34, ranked 65th in the world, told BBC Scotland.

"Outside of the majors it doesn't get any bigger than this. The last few years the Scottish Open's been good to me so fingers crossed that continues."

Warren has has twice finished third out of the last three Scottish Opens - at Castle Stuart in Inverness in 2012 and Royal Aberdeen in 2014.

The East Kilbride golfer now wants to replicate that kind of form at Gullane, on Scotland's east coast.

"We've got a great golf course and a great test so I'm really looking forward to getting started," said Warren.

Marc Warren came third at the Scottish Open in 2012 and 2014

"You come back to the event and you see the staging's quite similar to what it was, although it's different venues.

"There's something quite familiar about it. No matter what course was played on the year before, if you've had a good finish you take confidence from that."

Warren already has three European Tour victories to his name and will also play at the Open at St Andrews which starts on 9 July.

He finished joint top Scot - along with Jimmy Gunn in 27th place - at the US Open at Chambers Bay in June.

"I felt as if I played really well tee to green but the last three days wasn't so good on the green after a really good start," added Warren.

"There are a lot of positives to take from there in what is not too dissimilar a style of golf as what we're going to see this week - a little bit 'linksy'. I would say my links golf just now is pretty good."