Thomas Aiken ended his US Open Championship debut on a high note with a closing round of 66 at Chambers Bay.
The South African carded six birdies and only two bogeys in his final round to get back to four over par for the week.
And having completed his day's work, Aiken turned his attention to supporting overnight co-leader and compatriot Branden Grace.
“South African golf has been in a great spot for the last few decades,” said Aiken.
“It all started way back with Bobby Locke and Gary Player and then Ernie [Els] and Retief [Goosen] and then Trevor Immelman won a Major, then Charl [Schwartzel], Louis [Oosthuizen], and now Branden is up there today.
“I wish him all the best. He's been in many situations and won many times before and hopefully he can get it done today.”
On his own performance, Aiken added: “It was a fantastic day; the golf course finally lent some birdies to me.
“There are birdies out there, but there's also a lot of trouble out there and you've got to stay patient.
“I just made a few more putts than I did the first few days.
“To be honest, my long game has been fantastic all week. I've driven the ball unbelievably and hit a lot of greens, but just struggled on the greens.
“Today I hit a few closer and made a few more putts and that's really the difference. If you look at Louis Oosthuizen, he struggled on the first day and I think he struggled on the greens a little bit, and the last few days he's found a few putts and shot 66, 66. Around here that's pretty impressive. It shows there is a score out there. You can get it done, but it's not easy.”
