Lee Westwood will go into this week's USPGA Championship with great confidence following his runner-up finish at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.
The Englishman finished tied for second with Stuart Appleby at nine under par in Akron, Ohio, on Sunday night, a shot behind the winner Vijay Singh.
Singh, Westwood and Phil Mickelson had battled all day having started the final round as co-leaders - all three making mistakes as nerves frayed at the Firestone Country Club.
First Mickelson fell away with closing back-to-back bogeys as Appleby launched a late charge, while Westwood paid dearly for a double bogey at the seventh that meant he was playing catch-up for the rest of the round.
Singh eventually emerged victorious but Westwood was proud of his efforts going into the final major of the year at Oakland Hills, near Detroit, on Thursday.
"I think it will give me confidence," Westwood said. "You know, things like seven do happen, and to come back from that was great, because it's never easy playing this golf course.
"They're not easy holes. You have to hit it in the fairways, which I did mostly and gave myself good birdie chances.
"My distance control and my irons were good and I thought I handled the pressure pretty good.
"I know it's not easy to finish off around this golf course because a lot can happen on the back nine. They're not easy holes.
"I got 11 holes to pick five shots up and very nearly managed it. I've just got to sort of shake it off and start again. A blip is a blip."
Westwood said his run at the US Open at Torrey Pines in June, when he played in the final pairing alongside Tiger Woods and finished one shot off a play-off with the world number one and Rocco Mediate, had held him in good stead.
"When I get into contention and play in the last group, I feel very comfortable out there now," Westwood said. "I've got a routine I'm going through, and nothing phases me too much.
"I hit some nice shots under pressure over the last few holes.
"I've never really been one to give up out there. It's a World Golf Championship at the end of the day, and I was still in third spot, and Vijay could have dropped shots as well - and he ended up doing that.
"He was 12 at the time, and he won at 10 under.
"In those situations you've just got to grind it out and see what happens."
Mickelson was also determined to take positives into this week's USPGA Championship, despite the terrible finish over the last four holes that cost him a chance of victory.
The world number two had not dropped a shot until the 15th but came home bogey, par, bogey, bogey for a level-par 70 that left him two strokes back of Singh in a tie for fourth with Retief Goosen.
"It wasn't a good finish for me but I played really well today," Mickelson said. "For fourteen holes I hit a lot of good shots. I should have shot 63 or 64."
The Bundesliga players on day 15
WESTWOOD HAPPIER ON AKRON GREENS
BRITISH PAIR READY FOR WOODS
