Sergio Garcia insists he is "still quite happy" with his performance in the British Open at Hoylake despite again struggling on the final day.
Garcia went into the last round just one shot behind eventual winner Tiger Woods, and played alongside the world number one in the final group.
The 26-year-old Spaniard could only manage a closing 73, however, going to the turn in 39 shots - 10 more than in Saturday's 65 - to drop back into a share of fifth, seven shots behind Woods.
It was Garcia's 11th top-10 finish in a major championship but continued an unwelcome trend this season. In 11 final rounds, the Ryder Cup star has only broken 70 three times and has a scoring average of 72.63.
But ahead of today's Deutsche Bank Players' Championship in Hamburg, Garcia stressed: "I felt very good last week, the best I've felt probably all year. So I'm very happy about that. I'm looking forward to keeping the run going.
"I felt like I played well all day, I felt like I was striking the ball the way I wanted. Unfortunately on the front nine nothing wanted to happen. It was a great experience, I really enjoyed it all week. I had a lot of fun. I'm still quite happy about it. A 73 was definitely the highest I could shoot. When everything goes wrong you make zero putts."
Garcia's chances had essentially disappeared after just five holes of the final round after he three-putted two of the first three holes and then could only par the par-five fifth while Woods made an eagle three.
But the 11-time major winner predicted it would not be long before Garcia broke his major championship duck, adding: "Sergio has not done it yet but I'm sure he'll do it soon."
Garcia's best finish in a major remains second in the US PGA championship at Medinah in 1999 - scene of this year's event as well - when he chased home Woods at the tender age of 19.
"I really felt good out there, I felt calm and comfortable with myself. It's kind of like what happened on Saturday. You start things going right and it seems like nothing can go wrong. If you go the other way it's tough because you're charging more for the pins and after making a couple of three-putts you go for a bit more.
"You could see Tiger was going for the middle of the green, unfortunately I had to go a bit the other way and it just didn't work. I just want to keep going on the same line. I struggled a bit with my game the last month or two, I didn't feel that good. But the last couple of weeks it's coming and last week I gained confidence with my driver again and felt comfortable with my swing."
One consolation for Garcia - who was still Europe's top finisher at Hoylake - was that he moved up in the Ryder Cup standings and could seal his place in the side with a good performance at Gut Kaden.
Six hundred thousand points are on offer to the winner from a top-class field featuring defending champion Niclas Fasth, former British Open champion John Daly, Padraig Harrington, world number five Retief Goosen, Ryder Cup team-mates Luke Donald, Paul Casey and captain Ian Woosnam.
However, Colin Montgomerie is absent after withdrawing earlier this week. Montgomerie, who missed the cut in the British Open, told tournament organisers he did not want to be "in a competitive environment, preferring to spend time practising elements of his game which need attention".
Montgomerie is likely to be fined around £500 by the European Tour for withdrawing after Saturday's deadline.
As well as Harrington there is a strong Irish contingent heading for Germany - Paul McGinley, Graeme McDowell, Damien McG rane, Gary Murphy, Michael Hoey, David Higgins, Stephen Browne and Peter Lawrie.
