Justin Rose comes into the WGC - Bridgestone Invitational tournament confident of another strong showing in an increasingly impressive year.
Rose "threw the monkey off his back" by winning The Memorial Tournament and then the AT&T National, which allowed the 30 year old to banish from memory his failure to stop the challenge of Bubba Watson at The Travelers Championship.
The World Number 19 led by three shots going into the final round at Cromwell, Connecticut, only to finish tied for ninth. But the wins that sandwiched that disappointment have allowed Rose to take a better perspective.
"I said before I started winning that my game was in great shape," said Rose. "I didn't need to do anything different.
"In that way, the Memorial win was very, very important, just to have the job done, (to throw) the monkey off my back.
"I think it was easier for me to accept what happened at the Travelers Championship, having had a win under my belt.
"If you choose to learn the right lessons from a week, it makes you stronger and makes you better.
"So I generally felt that I turned up at the AT&T on Monday morning a better player because of what I had just been through.
"My game hadn't changed overnight, but the experience I had just been through, if I choose to learn from them correctly, I knew I was better.
"If you're still chasing down the first win and you lose a lead like I did...I lost a tournament, but I'm still improving as a player."
First-time winners have lifted five of the last six Major Championships, the latest Louis Oosthuizen at St Andrews in The Open Championship.
That quirk lends Rose confidence ahead of the US PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in August.
"I didn't realise that statistic. It just shows strength in depth now is very strong," said Rose.
"For me, going into a Major Championship, I realise it could be my week. I think I've got the skill set to do it.
"The challenge is getting all aspects of the game firing because a Major Championship does test every part of your game.
"I've played with Louis Oosthuizen a few times and you're always staggered by how well he swings it; how well he hits the ball.
"I played with him at Wentworth not too long ago and he actually had a bit of an off week hitting the ball, but his putting is fantastic."
Rose tees off with compatriot Paul Casey at 1350 local time tomorrow, and he is heartened by the recent success of fellow Englishmen Simon Dyson and Simon Khan.
"It's cool as a collective group to look up and see the potential and the talent coming through. We're a golf mad country, a big participation sport, a load of people play the game.
"Whenever we have tournaments in England they're well attended. I think for a while our World Rankings were very strong without necessarily winning tournaments.
"But in the last year or so that's translated into wins, which I think is the important thing."
