Richie Ramsay needs to “walk with a strut” if he is to build on an encouraging Open championship.
The Aberdonian, whose final round 72 left him level par for the tournament, doesn’t want to become another Scottish sport ‘so near but yet so far’ story.
“It’s very small margins and that’s what I need to improve,” he reflected.
“The fact that I’m in Scotland probably doesn’t aid that and that’s something you’ve got to continually fight against.
“If you’d given me this at the start of the week, I’d have taken it.
“I’ve learned a lot. I set high goals. I felt comfortable out there. I just play a little bit too conservatively sometimes.
“The difference is you have to walk with a bit more of a strut. I’ve got to surround myself with as many positive people as possible.
“I think sometimes some negativity falls in there. It’s an old Scottish thing. There are a few other things that I think are major that hold us back as a nation and from progressing in general.”
There were more downs than up in Ramsay’s last round, which featured four bogeys and a double.
The obvious highlight was the holed bunker shot on 17 for eagle.
“I played poorly today,” he admitted. “I didn’t execute my shots well.
“The week was summed up by the last hole where I played a lovely tee shot and my second shot ran off the back of the green and then I didn’t get it in the hole from six feet.
“It was good but not good enough.
“I’m sure that when I go away and reflect on it I’ll be a bit happier about it.
“It was great to play close to the last few groups on the weekend of a major.
“It reaffirms the same things that I believe in – if you don’t have a sharp short-game and if you’re not strong mentally, that’s the difference.
“I can hit it as straight as anybody off the tee and my ball striking can be really good but my game just needs to be way sharper.
“It’s as simple as that.”
