Richie Ramsay has been back to the scene of one of his greatest triumphs in the United States in his bid to get his rookie season on the European Tour off and running, starting at this week's Spanish Open.
Having played 12 tournaments since the Australian Masters last November, the graduate from last season's Challenge Tour has made just four cuts and is languishing at No.204 in the Race to Dubai standings with official earnings of less than £20,000.
The 25-year-old Aberdonian blames a rusty short game and, during the three-week hiatus caused by the Masters and the European Tour's visit to China and Korea, he has returned to the Golf Club of Georgia, near Atlanta.
That was where, three years ago, he won the Georgia Cup, the annual challenge match between the winners of the US and British amateur championships and played immediately before the Masters into which both finalists are exempt. Ramsay defeated the Frenchman Julien Guerrier by 2 and 1.
The hospitality there is both generous and long-lasting. Ramsay, who was the first home-based Scot to win the US amateur title, was made a life member and was told he was welcome there any time, an offer that was honoured this month.
"It is a place where I feel very comfortable," he said. "The conditions there were perfect and at this time of year the greens are running at similar speeds to the greens on tour so it was the ideal place to go to practise my short game."
With a new caddie this season in Mark Crane, who formerly worked with Lloyd Saltman and Englishman David Dixon, Ramsay has three tournaments in a row, starting on Thursday at the PGA Golf de Catalunya near Girona and then heading to Italy and Ireland.
"The results I have had this season do get to you confidence-wise but with the big-money tournaments coming up this would be the perfect time to get cracking and get on a roll," said Ramsay.
"My long game has been good all season and it was pretty obvious that I needed to work on scrambling and putting.
"There are big differences course-wise from the Challenge Tour. They are longer, the rough is higher and you need more of an all-round game.
"I am comfortable on the European Tour and it is just a matter of putting in the work and waiting for it all to come to fruition."
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