What an amazing Sunday in Memphis. It just shows you not to expect anything in golf because you never know what's going to happen next.

I wasn’t quite ready to leave the course, but when somebody holds a three-shot lead as Robert Garrigus had standing on the 72nd tee, you just don’t think it’s going to a play-off.   So I suppose I got a break with other people’s misfortunes, but made the most of it and took a chance.

It’s just amazing how things pan out and I arrived at Pebble Beach as the St.Jude Memphis Classic champion – 12 years after my first win in America.

The key to all this is keeping in contention and I’ve been doing that often over the last two years.

In my career I've had highs and lows. I've dropped down the world rankings and climbed back up. So to be contending for golf tournaments is a real positive, because I couldn't see a fairway or the golf course eight years ago. So what is there not to enjoy? There's far more people -- you look at the charity at the St Jude, the kids' hospital - far more people go through worse things than playing bad golf. That's why I play golf with such an optimistic outlook. Good things will happen. I enjoy golf.

It was also nice to be able to repay the sponsor for inviting me to their tournament.  It’s always satisfying to back that invite with a good result. I don't say I try a little bit harder, but at the end of the week if I played well, it feels like it means a bit more because I've given the sponsor hopefully what he wants for inviting me.

I have to admit that before the play-off I did say to myself not to repeat what happened in Dubai at the start of the year when I had three good chances to beat Miguel Angel Jiminez in sudden death and blew them all.   It was in the back of my mind, definitely don't want to do that, don't want to feel that again. And I came out on the right side this time. Golf is a funny game. Sometimes it gives, sometimes it takes away.

And I couldn’t be happier that it happened a week before the US Open. I like being competitive before a major championship because it’s a confidence booster.

Obviously Memphis was a little bit draining with the high temperatures it gets to there, but because I'd been to Pebble Beach and done most of my preparation, I could take it easy for the next three days and build up my fitness and stamina for when the championship kicked off .

So it was off to Pebble Beach and the US Open with another win under my belt and average earnings of US$315,000 per tournament in America.

Unfortunately I was never really in the chase for the season’s second major championship. Graeme McDowell would prove the principal player at Pebble although a top 20 finish in a grand slam event is not to be scoffed at. Neither my ball striking nor my putting was up to the test.

So I’m at home now, building up my fitness and my game before moving on to Paris for the French with St. Andrews and The Open growing ever clearer on the horizon.