Chris Doak saw his birdie putt at 18 dive left of the hole meaning he thought he’d missed out on a play-off at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews yesterday but perspective is all to the popular man in the white bunnet.
Two weeks ago the 35-year-old was toiling through after a fraught couple of days in Wales, pulled every which way by the impending birth of his daughter and the need to keep playing to make sure he kept on the European Tour.
The safe arrival of Eva on the first day of the Wales Open Doak pulled out to race home for the birth made everything seem unimportant in his professional world.
And as so often happens, it was a calm and relaxed Doak who cruised to his best-ever European Tour finish and his biggest career cheque.
The £124,607 also gets him across the line comfortably in his quest to retain his playing rights for 2015.
If only he knew fatherhood would have made this difference “I should have done it 10 years ago,” he joked.
“There’s no question that having a kid just chills you out,” he said after a final round 66, the equal best of the day, pushed him into fifth place.
“All I need to do is get a picture of my daughter in my head, then you think: does it really matter if I miss or make the putt?”
As it turned out that final putt wouldn’t have got him into a play-off as Oliver Wilson was making his outstanding recovery back on 17, but it’s a newly confident Doak who’ll be moving forward from St Andrews.
“It’s the second year in a row that I’ve made my card at this event, leaving it late, and to be honest I’d prefer if we didn’t make it a hat-trick next year,” he said.
Doak by his own admission hadn’t played at all well since Wentworth in May, but the death of his mentor and coach Bob Torrance in July required some re-organisation.
He now works with Paul Arthur, the pro from the Canmore club in Dunfermline who came up through PGA training with Chris and used to caddie for him.
For good measure he has added another grand veteran of Scottish golf, caddie Dave Renwick, on his bag.
“Bob said to me, ‘He (Paul) has got it right, you just had to hear it from me’,” explained Doak.
“That was Bob’s way of saying ‘this is your man’. Bob and Paul used to have lengthy talks about the swing so I knew it was the only way to go. As for Dave, if he keeps doing his stuff then the Race to Dubai is the target now.
“He’s been on the bag the last five weeks and his experience was why I gave him the call. The problem in our first few weeks was all down to me and my attitude with the baby coming. But Dave’s been brilliant.”
But the perspective is everything for this late-developer, who dominated the Tartan Tour before finding his feet in the big leagues.
“It would have been nice to hole that last one, but it doesn’t really matter. If I’d been offered this at the start of the week, I’d have grabbed it my aim was top 10 and I’ve surpassed that.”
Paul Lawrie (69) moved up into 18th while Marc Warren continued his consistent run of finishes with a 68 to finish tied for 25th, but Stephen Gallacher ran out of steam with a disappointing 73 to end up tied for 32nd.
“To be honest, I haven’t played well all week and have just about been holding it together,” said Gallacher.
“I shot four birdies and two eagles on the first day at Carnoustie and ended up with just a 68. My bad shots were the difference.
“I’m looking forward to a week off after all that’s gone on and finishing strongly in the last four tournaments.”