Yannik Paul was delighted to be peaking at the business end of the season as he arrived at the 2022 Portugal Masters just days after sealing his maiden DP World Tour title at the Mallorca Golf Open.
The German birdied the last in Spain on Sunday to claim a dramatic first victory of a rookie campaign that sees him sit in the top 20 of the DP World Tour Rankings in Partnership with Rolex.
That guarantees he will be in the field for both the Nedbank Golf Challenge and the DP World Tour Championship and while Paul was excited about the prospect of those events, he was keeping his focus on the challenge of Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Club.
"This week is a great event and then South Africa is a really big event, then Dubai is the biggest event of the year," he said. "Right now it’s a good time to peak.
"I’m excited. I want to play well, keep that momentum going and I think playing against the best players in the world over the next few weeks, I’m excited, it came at the perfect time.
"Winning always stands above everything, you want to win tournaments. It’s what you practise for.
"To win in my first year was one of my goals, but to accomplish it is amazing. I just want to keep improving, keep getting better.
"My goal at the beginning of the season was to get to Dubai, that was a good goal with not getting into the big events. To accomplish that is amazing. Now I want to get to Dubai and get in contention come Sunday.
"I’ve never been here before. I haven’t been out on the course yet, but I’ve heard great things about it.
"A lot of people were asking if I was playing this week. My girlfriend is here, we’ve always wanted to come to Portugal, we’ve heard a lot of amazing things about Portugal. So we decided to come here. The hotel is amazing, the course looks great, I’m excited to check it out myself."
Paul's transition from the European Challenge Tour to the DP World Tour has been seamless, with him starting his season with a top ten and sealing five more including a second place at the Soudal Open before his victory.
And the 28-year-old revealed all of those experiences helped lead him to the winner's circle as he reflected on his triumph.
"It was just a rollercoaster of a day," he said. "I had the lead most of the day then Marcus (Armitage) made some great birdies and all of a sudden I was trailing by two with three to go and you’re thinking today might not be the day.
"To hole a putt on the last was a dream come true. That’s what you practise for: ‘this is a putt to win a tournament’. Then to actually have a putt and make it is unbelievable.
"I’ve played a lot of solid golf. I’ve been in contention a few times. You try and learn from that. The more you are in contention, the more comfortable you feel.
"I felt comfortable and then you see you’re leading and I got a bit nervous on the back nine, which I think is totally normal. I was just trying to focus on my breathing and just tried to stay in the moment."
