Robert MacIntyre has pinpointed the key moments in the season that gave him the belief he could go on to become a PGA Tour winner, and last week achieve his dream of winning the Scottish Open.
MacIntyre arrived late at Royal Troon after enjoying celebrations he described as "absolutely wild" following his victory at the Scottish Open on Sunday.
The 27-year-old now turns his attention to the Claret Jug and hopes to ride the wave of positive emotions to a maiden Major victory - after learning the hard way what it takes to win golf tournaments.
MacIntyre says the first big lesson he learned was at the Myrtle Beach Classic in May when he was well in contention after three rounds but saw his chances blown out by a double bogey on just his second hole on Sunday.
A change of attitude saw him stay more patient and earn a T8 finish at the PGA Championship, and those lessons helped him break his PGA Tour duck at the RBC Canadian Open and back it up at the Renaissance Club last week.
"There's been a lot of learning experiences this year," said MacIntyre. "If I didn't have the experiences at Myrtle Beach and the US PGA, Canada wouldn't have happened, and if I didn't have them three experiences, Sunday wouldn't have happened.
"It's just about on a Sunday of a golf tournament, just stay in the fight and don't get too high, don't get too low.
"Myrtle Beach taught me not to try and win golf tournaments. Then the U.S. PGA, I did the complete opposite. That was just stay in the fight, stay calm.
"I didn't play my best at the PGA, but then you play the last hole unbelievably, and you jump in the top 10. That was a real light switch that made me think, you know what, the golf game isn't the problem. I'm the problem.
"Then the same last week, there was obviously so much hype, on Sunday especially, and my job was just to stay calm and hit the golf shots that were required at the time. I done that, and thankfully everything kind of fell my way. That's all. There's no magic recipe to it. It's just stay out of my own way."
Banking on the "outrageous" home support he'll get off the Scottish fans at Troon, MacIntyre says it's the most relaxed he's been entering an Open - where he's had T6 and T8 finishes in just four appearances
"It's probably the most relaxed [he's been at the Open]," MacIntyre added. "Last week I was absolutely chilled out. All week I was as relaxed as I've ever been for the Scottish Open, for a golf tournament, to be honest. There was no nerves. There was nothing going on. I was just trying to enjoy myself as much as I can.
"Coming here, it's the exact same again. Tomorrow we'll start off from level par. I've got as much chance as everyone else in the field. Same Thursday last week, I had the same chance as everyone else.
"It's just about getting in that position on Sunday and seeing where the cards fall. Obviously last week they fell my way. My job is to go out there, fight as hard as I can, try my best, and hopefully get in a position where I can just have a chance.
"That's all I can ask myself, and that's the only bit of kind of anything that I want is just have a chance. If I do my job well enough and I hit the shots I see, execute them as well as I can, accept where they end up, then there's a chance."
