Oliver Wilson accepts he may struggle to be Mansfield's Sports Personality of the Year after the double Olympic triumph of swimmer Rebecca Adlington.
But he will be content enough if he can earn himself a Ryder Cup debut and be part of a side that achieves a historic fourth successive win over the Americans next month.
Wilson has still to register his first European Tour victory, but no fewer than four runner-up finishes this season have put him ninth in the points table.
This week's KLM Open in Holland is the penultimate counting event, and while the 27-year-old opened with a one-under-par 69 on Thursday, one of the two players it would take to knock him out of an automatic spot did even better.
Dane Soren Hansen shot 65 and resumed at Kennemer on Friday morning in joint second place with England's John Bickerton, one behind pace-setting Dutchman Rolf Muntz.
Wilson looked to be sailing into Nick Faldo's side until he suffered a shoulder injury and missed the European Open, then broke his favourite driver in the following week's Scottish Open.
"I'd had it for two years and when it cracked I messed around with a couple and didn't find one I really liked until a few weeks ago," he said.
"Everything's in decent shape now. I went back last week to the place I've got in Augusta (he was at university there) and worked on my own with a video.
"I know the Ryder Cup situation is tight, but I don't know exactly what the figures are.
"I've got to play well - I'm not going to be handed this - and I'm just trying to get a natural flow back to my swing."
Wilson actually led when he went to the turn in 31, but as the weather worsened he dropped two late shots.
Playing partner Justin Rose, eighth in the standings, managed a 67, but German Martin Kaymer, who is currently 11th - only Ј213 behind Hansen, could do no better than 72.
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