Richard Mansell has vowed to learn from his experiences over the last two weeks after making his first starts on the European Tour and finishing second at the Euram Bank Open.
The 25-year-old drove from the United Kingdom to Austria a fortnight ago, but missed the cut at the Austrian Open, his first appearance on the European Tour.
This week at Golf Club Adamstal, renewed confidence showed as he carded rounds of 67-66-64, heading into the final day three strokes behind 54-hole leader Robin Sciot-Siegrist.
He pushed eventual winner Joël Stalter to the 70th hole as a bogey on the 16th saw his title hopes fade, but the Englishman remains upbeat after his first European Tour experiences.
“If you had asked me at the start of the week - would you take a second-place finish on your own? Yes. But with four holes to play when you've got a one-footer to tie the lead, or if you could just birdie the last, it's difficult to swallow, but I'll be back again.
“It was obviously a new environment for me to be in. Today, starting out it was tricky conditions as we all know. The golf course was playing so much longer, you had to be patient.
“My caddie and I did a pretty good job for pretty much all of the round to be honest, just making pars. A slight slip up on the 13th, second shot, just pushed it right. Bailed out there and made bogey. I managed to fight back right away, made birdie so I was like, ‘here we go, give yourself a chance."
“I hit two great shots into 15, had 19 feet for eagle and I don't know what happened, to be honest. Hit a good first putt and gone to tap it in from a foot and it's just come back at me. I couldn’t believe it. Then I made bogey on the next hole and that was my tournament over.
“I know I'll have more chances. This week has given me a lot of confidence going forward. I'm happy with where my game's at so we'll see what happens next.
“I am good enough. I think I've always known that, but this result just... it's been a tricky year for me. The start of the year in South Africa didn't go as planned. I've just been waiting for a result. Now I've got that, just have that confidence.
“The monkey is off my back as such, so I can go ahead and play freely now. I'm looking forward to what's to come. I don't know if I'll get into any of the events in the UK, but if I do then I'll be ready to play.
“I haven't experienced emotions like that on a golf course for a long time, but I loved every minute of it. “
