Richie Ramsay had such a spring in his step when he walked off Wentworth’s 18th green you could just about hear a ‘boing’ with every upbeat bounce.
A closing birdie in a three-under 69 for a 13-under tally left the Scot in a share of sixth and gave him his best finish in the BMW PGA Championship.
A cheque for around £182,000 added to the sense of satisfaction. “I’ll have a glass of red tonight,” said the triple tour champion as he looked to toast a job well done.
Earlier this season, Ramsay raised one or two eyebrows when he suggested that he would consider retiring from the touring scene at the age of 40.
At just 36, the Aberdonian has plenty of golf in him yet, though. An impressive showing here over the last four days, and the buzz he got from the big occasion atmosphere at the European Tour’s flagship event, has injected him with renewed vigour.
“I do have a bit of a spring in my step,” said Ramsay who partnered former Masters champion Patrick Reed on the final day.
“I read an article on the tour’s website by James Morrison (fellow tour player). He’s been been out here for 10 years and said he wasn’t sure what he was doing and I felt I was in the same situation.
“I’ve been out here a long time too and I was asking myself ‘what are the goals and what do I want to do?’.
READ MORE: Danny Willett wins the BMW PGA Championship
“I’ve won a few times, money is not too much of an issue. So what drives me? Well, out there today, I was thinking ‘this is what drives me’. I still want to win again.
“I know deep down that I still want to do this and get up in the morning and practice but sometimes you need these moments to remind you of that.
“This is what it’s about. So I have to enjoy it now and keep on chasing it as you never know when it’s going to end.”
Robert MacIntyre marked his Wentworth debut with a tie for 28th on four-under. It was another learning experience for the rookie.
“Next time I’m here, I’ll not be settling for top 30, ’ll be looking to win,” he said.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here