Peterhead’s Jamie McLeary hopes his Open championship can be the turning point of the season.
The 33-year-old finished three over par for the tournament thanks to a final round of two under 70.
McLeary had gone to Royal Liverpool on the back of a poor run of nine consecutive missed cuts, but managed to squeeze through the halfway cut at Hoylake with nothing to spare.
And McLeary hopes his encouraging Open performance can help galvanise his bid to maintain his place on the European Tour during the second half of the season.
He said: “I’ve loved this. It would have been so easy to come down here after the way I’ve been playing and shoot something like 10-over as I did in Aberdeen at the Scottish Open.
“But my game is in good shape and, playing with the guys I have done here, has shown me I have the ability to play at this level. It’s just getting out of this slump.
“Hopefully this can be a turnaround. I need to get back playing well on the tour. I go to Russia next and that’s a course I’ve done well on before on the Challenge Tour. I think the lowest I finished was 12th, so I’m quite confident of having a good week.
“I’m happy I’m hitting the ball well again. My driving and iron play this season has been such that I can’t compete. But it’s coming on.”
McLeary’s final round included an eagle 3 at the 10th and five birdies, including one at the 18th, which he had bogeyed on Friday and doubled on Saturday.
Finally conquering the closing hole meant McLeary finished three shots better than 14-time major winner Tiger Woods.
He said: “That will be nice to tell my little boy about when he grows up and decides to pick up the sticks.
“It’s cool to beat the best player who has ever played the game, in my opinion anyway.”
But, most importantly, it is a pay day for McLeary who had not made a cut since April and had only earned £17,000 in prize money this season before the Open.
He added: “I did look at last place which is about £12,500. Hopefully I will get a bit more than that. When I made the cut I was looking to maybe make the top 30 and get a decent cheque.”