Home favourite Nacho Elvira admitted losing out on the final day of the Open de España was a bittersweet feeling but he is hopeful he can use his performance as a springboard for the rest of the season.
The Spaniard entered Sunday one shot off the lead and briefly held it on his own after a stunning downhill left-to-righter from 35 feet brought an eagle on the fifth on Sunday.
He was still in a share stood on the 17th tee but he put his tee-shot in the water for a double-bogey and eventually finished three shots behind countryman Jon Rahm.
The Madrid native had a huge, loud gallery following him around Centro Nacional de Golf and he was only taking positives from his best result since he lost out in a play-off at the 2016 Trophée Hassan II.
"A little bittersweet, it's been a fantastic day," he said.
"One shot cannot summarise the whole day, it was just the wrong shot at the wrong time but I'm really happy. Playing against Jon Rahm is always tough, he's a great player and I just came up short this time.
"The crowd was probably the best I've seen, it's fantastic to be able to play at home and play with this crowd. Everybody was supporting me and Jon but they were being very respectful of the other players so I think it's fantastic. It's good for golf and it's good for everybody.
"It's always good to be in contention. Having two holes to go and being in contention in a European Tour event is always good. There are definitely more positives than negatives, if there are any negatives.
"I'm just happy that I turned my game a little bit around from the beginning of the season and hopefully I can keep it up for the next events."
Ireland's Paul Dunne finished a shot ahead of Elvira after entering the day with a one-shot lead and he too chose to take the positives from an event where he led after days one, two and three.
There are definitely more positives than negatives, if there are any negatives - Nacho Elvira
"I felt like I hit the ball great," he said. "Mostly my short game let me down a little bit. I hit a lot of chips that I thought were better than they were and I just kept misjudging bounces. Some of them skidded, some of them bounced soft and I feel like when I played for one I got the other result so it's a little frustrating not to be able to get anything going, not get any putts to go in.
"I hit the ball fantastic, I was hitting it long and straight so I feel good going into the next few weeks. Obviously disappointed not to win but it is what it is.
"I'm driving the ball great. For me, if I drive the ball well I feel like I have a chance to win every week. I'll just keep doing what i'm doing.
"I'm a little disappointed but Spain has a great champion in Jon and I'm sure he'll win many more of these."
