Who said the Open Championship was glamorous?

"You're holding up the brolley in the driving wind and rain on the first tee, your name gets announced, and you can't even hear the applause," recalled Scott Jamieson, as his thoughts turned back to a drookit debut in the game's most cherished major.

That particular golfing date came at Royal St George's in 2011 and it would be fair to say that it was something of a come down after a fast and furious build up.

Jamieson had squeezed into the Open that year with a share of third in the Scottish Open at Castle Stuart the previous weekend and made the hike from the Highlands to the south east coast of England for the Sandwich showpiece. A pair of 75s led to an early exit and it was all an anti-climax. The weather didn't help matters either.

"It was the Open Championship, so I would never say it was miserable, but the weather conditions weren't great and I didn't feel like it had the atmosphere that I had imagined when I was a kid about what a first Open would be," admitted Jamieson, who won his maiden European Tour title in South Africa at the start of the season and remains the leading Scot on the Race to Dubai at No 16.

"That's because I had no time leading up to it to get excited about it really. I always find that after a big week when you're in contention, like I was at the Scottish, the next week is difficult. Your adrenalin levels are lower and you have to work harder to keep yourself going. I always find that unless I get a quick start the following week, my head isn't in it as much as it should be. That was the case at St George's, without a doubt."

Things should be a bit different this week, though. Unlike two years ago at Castle Stuart, when he was involved in the cut-and-thrust of the title race, Jamieson wasn't around for the weekend this time as he missed the cut with a crippling 80 in round two. It was his second 80 in the space of seven days, having tossed a similar number into the pot during the third round of the French Open. The 29-year-old has arrived in East Lothian with a freshness and an eagerness to get going, though. This game can play havoc with the mind but Jamieson seems to have the heid screwed on this week.

"Two years ago, it was a mad rush to get down there on time and the head was still spinning from the good week at Castle Stuart," added the Scot, who came through International Final Qualifying at Sunningdale last month to earn his Muirfield tee-time. "This time I've had a month to get ready for it mentally, which should be a good thing."

Jamieson made a sparkling start to the 2013 season and followed up his victory with a share of third in the Alfred Dunhill Championship and a runners-up placing in the Volvo Golf Champions during a profitable few weeks in South Africa. Those impressive displays earned him a crack at America and, having finished on the fringes of the top 20 in the star-studded WGC Cadillac Championship at Doral, Jamieson more than held his own with the leading lights.

The Augusta State University graduate has been in something of dip recently – he's missed the cut in four of his last six events and has not been higher than 58th – but the Scot is quietly confident that the good times are just around the corner. The Open can sometimes have that galvanising effect, after all. "It's a great atmosphere this year and I'm probably going to enjoy this one more than my first at St George's," he said. "The pinnacle Open would always be St Andrews for me, but there are a couple of other venues that you've watched as a kid growing up and have an extra bit of prestige.

"Muirfield is definitely one of those. It's probably number two on my list. I've not been playing great but my game feels quite close. I've done a lot of good things in amongst a couple of really bad rounds. That was the case in France and at Castle Stuart. It's in there somewhere.

"You want to play four good rounds, get yourself in contention and give yourself a chance to win on Sunday.

"I don't feel I need to prove anything. I've played well in big events. I was 23rd in a WGC event without playing my best golf. If I can find the form over four rounds that I've shown sporadically in the last couple of months then I think I'll be in good shape. I definitely feel like I belong here, that's for sure."