Richie Ramsay’s new maturity means he’s already “packed up” his third European tour title and can’t wait to get working on a fourth.
The 31-year-old from Aberdeen teed up at the Shenzen International in China this morning after a two-week break from his outstanding win at the Trophee Hassan II in Morocco, when he recovered from a final round triple bogey to take the title, his first on Tour since the 2012 European Masters.
That mid-round setback might have skewered Richie in the past, but he’s a mellowed character if still as competitive as ever.
“I still have the fire, I just channel it in a more positive way,” he explained. “I was definitely more outwardly feisty when I was younger, but I’d like to think the result would have been the same, just the way I got there would have been different.”
Ramsay’s reaction to the double bogey six in the final round in Morocco, which saw a two-shot advantage turn into a one-shot deficit, spoke volumes of his new attitude he smiled, which one can’t imagine the old Richie doing.
“I’ve hit one shot four yards short of where I wanted to and been punished,” he said. “But I’d been flagging it prior to that, and if I let one bad shot determine my attitude for the rest of the round I’m not going to get to where I want to be.
“So I talked about it with my caddie, set my head again because I knew the back nine was very playable, and just focused on giving myself opportunities.
“Really, the most nervous I got was watching Romain Wattel finish off on the last, because before I’d been in control and at that time I didn’t have control over anything!”
The change from the rages at himself in the past has been a gradual one of learning the hard way, he thinks.
“I think it’s just experience,” he continued “You learn both on and off the golf course and I think I’m a bit more relaxed, probably a better person.
“I was quite harsh when I was younger, but I think that’s common when you’re young. I drove myself, and I don’t think I would have got here without that.
“But at the same time when you’re a bit older you look back and think yeah, maybe I didn’t need to take it so seriously. It’s easy to say when you’re older and hindsight is a wonderful thing.”
As for the victory, he’s determined to treat his triumphs and his setbacks in the same manner.
“This was the most satisfying of my wins because I did it out of the blue,” he said. “It had been a poor start to the season, lots of different things weren’t going my way, but I dug in and stuck to my plan.
“Even though the win is obviously great, but it doesn’t change what I want to do, which is day-to-day getting that little bit better.
“That’s what I love to do. Sometimes you are only as good as your last tournament and for me that was a great tournament, but from my own perspective, three is great, but a fourth would be better, so let’s chase that.
“So, honestly, I had a couple of days to chill out, but all I could think about was getting back to work on the Wednesday.”
He’s conscious that the next stretch leads into the big money events on Tour and he wants to strike while he’s in a good vein of form and frame of mind.
“I did some good work in the weeks off, testing some clubs, doing a bit of chipping, not going off the path that I’ve set myself,” he said. “Just get better, stay with the plan 100 per cent and make sure everything is set for this run coming up.
“After these two weeks in China we get the Spanish Open, BMW PGA, Irish Open, and all the time the world ranking points and the money really rockets.
“You saw Graeme McDowell last year at this time, he went missed cut, missed cut, win, missed cut, win, win. I took that and put it on a mental notice board and thought if things aren’t going well I go back to that.
“He didn’t get down on himself. He just stuck to his guns, stuck to what he was working on.
“That’s the great thing about golf. Every time you pitch up you’ve got a chance to win and the higher you get up in golf it’s mental. You can have a great swing, but if you don’t have a mental game you’re going to get found out and you’re not going to get far.
“My mental game has got so much better, even when I’m not firing on all cylinders, like Saturday morning in Morocco. It just shows how powerful the mind is and it was one for the memory box, tick that, remember that, the positives, because I’ll need to pull that back out at some point.”