Thorbjørn Olesen admitted to a sense of relief after sealing his place on the Ryder Cup Team at the Made in Denmark.
The Dane came into the week knowing that his fate was in his own hands but after a closing 68 left him outside of the top seven on Sunday, a win for Matthew Fitzpatrick would have seen the Englishman secure a second Ryder Cup appearance and leave Olesen needing a Captain's Pick from countryman Thomas Bjørn.
Fitzpatrick got within three shots of a play-off with a closing 66 at Silkeborg Ry Golf Club but his tie for seventh meant that Olesen would be making his Ryder Cup debut at Le Golf National.
“Relief is my first emotion, that's for sure,” he said. “It's been a tough week, a long week, a lot of things on my mind. It's been difficult but it's been great to learn that different kind of pressure.
“I think I handled it pretty well. There were a couple of things that could have been better but it was a tough week and I feel pretty happy now.
“To make the Team automatically probably makes it that little bit more special but it's nice to place yourself in the Team and being inside that top eight will probably make me feel a little bit more comfortable when I get to the Ryder Cup.
“I'm happy and I'm very proud of myself, the way I've done things this summer and how I've handled myself.”
Olesen and Bjørn are good friends, with Olesen admitting that may have gone against him should he have needed a Pick.
But Bjørn was delighted to see Olesen get over the line and backed him to be a success in Paris.
“You always have somebody that's on the bubble at the end and fighting hard and, to be honest, when they are sitting there right inside the team you can feel they deserve it,” he said.
“You can see there's joy and sadness and fear and all these emotions in their eyes as they go through the last few weeks. That's tough for any player and it's tough to watch somebody that you care about a lot in the way that we are great friends.
“I feel he's ready now to be part of the European Team. To watch him go through that has been not the easiest thing but every player needs to go through that. Everybody needs to make that team.
“I feel he's ready to be part of a European Team now. He's ready to go out and try and win some points.”
For Fitzpatrick, it is now a waiting game to see if he is handed one of Bjørn's four Picks on Wednesday.
“I would obviously love to be one of them but I'm sure Thomas is doing his homework, looking at every aspect of everyone's game,” he said. “If I am picked, that's great, but if I'm not it's one of those things. Go work harder and get better.
“I've played well this season and I've played poorly this season so I think it's been a bit of a mixed bag for me. Hopefully it's starting to trend in the right direction for the back end of the year.”
