The eyes of America will be on Scot Lawrence Tynes as he attempts to kick New York Giants to another Super Bowl in Indianapolis on Sunday.

Greenock-born Tynes' stock has rocketed after nailing the kick in a sodden San Francisco that booked the Giants' place against New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI.

It was the second time he had made an NFC Championship-winning kick; also famously killing off Green Bay Packers at a frozen Lambeau Field in 2008.

Rob Hart, his former Scottish Claymores' team-mate, believes Tynes' toughness was fashioned on Scottish fields. The pair practised for hour upon hour tog ether 10 years ago for the Claymores at the University of Strathclyde's playing fields at Stepps.

The English barefoot kicker, who played pre-season matches for Tampa Bay Bucs, Miami Dolphins and New Orleans Saints, is convinced that experience was the making of Tynes.

"He knew it was make or break for him coming to Scotland," the 37-year-old said. "Kicking in Scotland can break people – I've seen it happen. If you turned up at Stepps and the wind was blowing at 90mph, there were times when you could kick-off and you could literally catch your own kick as the wind was so strong.

"Kicking is all about confidence. When you go on the field you have to be thinking you're going to make that kick. If you take a penalty in soccer, sometimes you think the goal is massive and you can't miss and there are times when you think the goal is really small. Kicking is the same in American football.

"Practise is massive in both sports but if you are to go out and kick a 50-yard field goal and it drops 20 yards short like it did often at Stepps, then it can really affect your confidence.

"Other people question you as well and I found it difficult in the first couple of years in NFL Europe. People get on your back and you start to feel down on yourself so practice becomes a negative rather than a positive. I've seen kickers broken in Scotland but Lawrence really took to it and just got on with it."

Hart beat out every American kicker who signed for the Claymores with the exception of Tynes. Now working as a financial adviser, he can look back on his NFL Europe career with satisfaction but he just failed to make it to the big time Stateside.

"Lawrence kind of beat me out of my job. Every year I was playing, an American kicker came in but pretty much took a side-step as I was pretty much the main kicker for the Claymores," he recalled.

"I had a poor season in 2000, so in 2001 there was pressure on me to do well but I had a great year and kicked 16 out of 19 field goals and did almost all of the kicking and, on the back of that, I was hoping to sign for an NFL team.

"I thought that if I had a good 2002, then I would get an offer but then Lawrence Tynes came along and he was the only person that really did me out of the job of doing all of the kicking.

"He was one of the better kickers we saw. Funnily enough, he probably wasn't the best kicker and didn't stand out that much, but he got the job. When he went back to Kansas City Chiefs – the team he was with – they always gave him a lot of praise and support. When the Chiefs sent players to Europe, they were really looking to develop them and did the same with Dante Hall and others.

"Lawrence is a classic example of a player who was developed in NFL Europe. It helped his career and he managed to stick with a team eventually.

"He was a cocksure guy and that showed up in 2008 when he kicked the winner at Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship game. He had missed a couple of kicks but came back on before the coach had signalled and kind of made the decision for him.

"He was outgoing and was a man's man. He was a good guy and pretty focused on what he wanted to do. He wasn't one of those guys you thought was going to light up but he's had a great career. He's been in the NFL for eight years and there are very few Claymores players or even ex-NFL Europe players who are still playing over there.

"Lawrence was proud of his Scottish heritage, he's not a fake. He's done really well for himself and it's not easy going to somewhere like the Giants. It's not easy trying to convince someone like Tom Coughlin that you're the real deal but he's managed to do that. The Giants had problems with their kickers but Lawrence has done the job for them."