GRAHAM GANO has taken the tourist route to reach his date with destiny tomorrow night in Santa Clara, California.

The Carolina Panthers' kicker knows his much-travelled boot can win Super Bowl 50, his team are favourites to beat the Denver Broncos, but he has not chosen the well-trodden path.

Born in Arbroath (his father was a US serviceman at RAF Edzell), he also spent some early years in Canada before returning to Scotland.

Like fellow-Scot Lawrence Tynes who won two Super Bowl rings with the New York Giants, he first kicked an American football after his parents moved to Florida.

Like Tynes, he was undrafted, and it took a stint in the now-defunct United Football League with the Las Vegas Locomotives in 2009 to set him on the right path.

Tynes will argue that playing for the Scottish Claymores in NFL Europe and also a spell in the Canadian Football League ensured he was not overlooked by the NFL.

"That UFL was amazing," Gano recalled, "It was big for my career because a lot of the teams that were talking to me said I didn’t have any experience and that gave me the experience I needed. I feel very blessed that coach [Jim] Fassel brought me in there and we won the championship. I think the biggest thing was that it was fun.

"Guys were there at the end of their careers just having a good time and there were other guys hoping to make it to the NFL. It was really beneficial for my career."

Gano, at 28, is enjoying the best of times in his career – second-top scorer in the NFL this year and boasts one of the strongest and most-reliable legs in the league.

But he is still working at his game and had to deconstruct his approach last year to get where he is today.

"I think the biggest thing is how I have been more consistent in switching my approach to the football," he revealed. "Three steps to two steps. I think my accuracy has gone way up. I think the biggest thing is just experience, I only kicked one year in college, so to have four years under my belt now I feel like I have figured it out.

"I’m still learning more every year but I feel really comfortable where I am at now and I think the biggest thing is perfecting your form and keeping it consistent.

"I have had the same form for about five years now and I think that’s the biggest difference."

Gano, a Rangers' fan, achieved one of his lifetime ambitions this week in the build up to the game when he was presented with a Scotland football jersey.

"I've actually been wanting a Scottish national team jersey since I was a little kid. That was my dream growing up, to play for them, so this will be kind of like a dream come true. I’m not playing for them, but it is really exciting just to follow them.

"I followed their games more so when I was younger, but there's a lot of focus on my family and [American] football now. I’d love to be able to catch a Scotland match some time."

The Panthers, under inspired quarterback Cam Newton, have taken the NFL by surprise this season, only losing once at Atlanta.

Winning the NFC Championship and having home advantage throughout the play-offs eased their journey but every part of the team looks strong.

"The key to success is that we have a great group of guys on the team," summed up Gano. "A lot of guys with great character, everyone is very selfless and everyone works hard towards the same goal. It doesn’t matter how we get it done, as long as we win."

The Scot believes that even that solitary loss has helped them in the build-up to the Super Bowl.

Only the 1972 Miami Dolphins have managed to go through a season undefeated and the New England Patriots were caught out in 2008 when they went into the Super Bowl unbeaten only to be caught out by Tynes and the unfancied New York Giants in Phoenix.

"I think it has relieved the pressure," Gano admitted, "Of course you want to go undefeated, but we agreed as a team that that’s the one game we didn’t play with our personality and we didn’t have a lot of fun that game.

"At the same time, it did take some pressure off. If anything, it just fired us up more to play better."