Douglas Lowe on Tuesday: All of a sudden, at the advanced age of 34, doors are beginning to open for David Drysdale, who has the kind of schedule over the next three weeks that he could only dream about at the start of the season after his 10th visit to qualifying school.

All of a sudden, at the advanced age of 34, doors are beginning to open for David Drysdale, who has the kind of schedule over the next three weeks that he could only dream about at the start of the season after his 10th visit to qualifying school.

His joint fourth place in the BMW International in Munich on Sunday puts him straight into the field for this week's French Open, for which he was 13th reserve last week, and as the top-ranked Scot at No.43 in the Race to Dubai order of merit, moreover, he has been invited to next week's Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond.

Following that he is set to make his first appearance in any major championship at the Open at Turnberry, for which he claimed a place through the international final qualifying event at Sunningdale. There could hardly be a better time to hit the heights.

"It is the dream schedule and counting Munich it is a fantastic four-week run. I have had a course record 64 at the French Open course Le Golf National in Paris, I love Loch Lomond and have had decent showings there before and I cannot wait for Turnberry," he said yesterday on a whistle-stop visit home.

As a result of contending in Munich he missed a pre-booked flight on Sunday and had to travel yesterday via Cologne before jetting off again today to Paris. These, though, are the kind of problems that come with success and there were no complaints from Drysdale, who is in the best form of his life.

"I've never been in this position before," said Drysdale after his fourth top-10 finish this year, which for the first time in his career at this stage of the season has erased any fears over retaining his playing rights for 2010.

"I've always been worrying about earning enough money to keep my card and now there is no such pressure. I'm more relaxed and my golf is flowing.

"Last week, for example, my only concern was getting into contention and winning rather than thinking about the Order of Merit. Playing in the final group on Saturday and the second last group on Sunday was fantastic."

There is a great deal of compassion for Drysdale, who twice missed out on retaining his card in recent years by minuscule amounts but persevered and never let his head go down.

If there is curiosity about why he is coming good at a relatively old age in comparison to players like Rory McIlroy winning on tour as teenagers, it is not something he is going to dwell on.

"I don't feel that old," he insisted. "I've played a couple of times with Rory and with Danny Willett, who is 21, and I don't look at them as being 13 or 14 years younger than me and I don't see them as being any different to me.

"Maybe I'm a slow learner or something, but if you look at Vijay Singh, his greatest achievements came in his late 30s and 40s.

That shows you can compete at any age if you remain healthy."

Drysdale credits the influence of coach David Downie, a former Scottish amateur strokeplay champion, who was himself a protege of Bob Torrance, the coach of Padraig Harrington, who is going for his third Open victory in a row.

"He was with Bob for 12 years and he Bob said David was one of the finest ball-strikers he has coached. There is a lot of Bob's knowledge coming from David who has also learned from other coaches and I am aware the quality of my ball-striking has improved greatly," he said.

The benefits of a solid and trusted team cannot be underestimated and Drysdale also mentions caddie Brian Byrne, manager Iain Stoddart and wife Vicky.

Nine times he has tried and failed to qualify for the Open and it was 10th time lucky, although he did play as a marker with John Daly 17 years ago at Muirfield so that he didn't have to play on his own. He would love to repeat the experience this time as a fellow competitor.

As soon as he qualified he was over to Turnberry to familiarise himself and has been round twice, once in a flat calm and the other in conditions so stormy that the course was barely playable. Coming from Dunbar he is well aware of the effects of the weather on links and he heads into the world's biggest tournament with no fears.

Stoddart believes he is playing well enough currently to be capable of stepping on to the winner's podium on the European Tour and Drysdale, without in any way being brash about it, feels confident enough to agree.

"I had a great opportunity in Seville in the Andalucia Open,"

he recalled, "and I hit a poorish shot at the 17th to open the door for Soren Kjeldsen. If I had more experience then, and even now, two or three months later, I would have gone for the fat of the green to put the pressure on Soren.

"I thought then you had to hit perfect shots to win tournaments but I know better now. I didn't have a chance last week - Nick Dougherty was flying - but I want to put myself into contention more often, and I feel very comfortable about that."