Last Sunday, in Paris, Damien McGrane did what no one else could manage on the tough Le Golf National course. He shot a final round of 65. It wasn't sufficient to propel him to victory in the French Open, but the Meathman went darn close.

His tied-third finish, which boosted his season's earnings by €190,000, was his best day's work since he first won his full tour card at Q-School in the dying days of 2002.

McGrane has criss-crossed many time zones since those fledgling days as a tour professional, when he decided to swap selling equipment and giving lessons as club professional at Wexford Golf Club to chase his dream.

But, with each step since becoming a tour professional, the 36-year-old has always learned along the way, and the graph has always gone up, from 140th in the money list in his first year on tour to 101st to 59th to 56th last season.

Now, heading into the European Open, he is in 44th place. Happy days.

"I had my chance (in Paris), but that's last week and this is this week. I took a bit of satisfaction going forward over the weekend rather than going back. You have to make hay while the sun shines, and I was lucky to have a 65 on Sunday of a big tournament with big money. You could do it in Russia and win peanuts - to be fair, that's where a little bit of luck comes in.

"I was lucky enough that I was playing well and the putter was good. I felt I could birdie every hole. It was easy for me to keep going because I was in the right mindset, where things were going my way.

"I presume the trick is to try to get into the zone as often as possible. The best players in the world are possibly in it all the time, but, you know, the experience of being out here (on tour) a few years stands to me."

Yesterday, McGrane clocked in for duty here, but, anxious to conserve his energy, he stayed on the range and left it to today's pro-am to get reacquainted with the Smurfit Course. From one tough course in Paris to another tough course here.

"You know, every week it is the same thing: long rough and testing conditions and fast greens and tight pins. But if courses were going to be easy, you'd have 25 under par winning," said McGrane, who wasn't tempted to try to qualify for the British Open on Monday.

As McGrane explained, the decision to bypass Sunningdale had nothing to do with a lack of ambition. "I can't see the logic in it at all (of playing 36 holes of qualifying). I play plenty of golf, why should I want to play another tournament? I'd like to play the Open, but I would have to take time off and other tournaments off (to fit it in), and taking tournaments off for the chance to play in the Open is not worth it for me.

"I play 33 tournaments a year, and people tell me I possibly play too much, so chuck in another one and make it 34? I play so many big tournaments that, in my opinion, I would have to take off a big tournament to facilitate the Open. If I was in it, I'd genuinely look to play, of course. But, right now, with the qualifying - and the qualifying itself I detest - I have no interest."

For now, the focus is on the European Open. Will contending in the French Open stand to him when it comes to attempting to win a tournament?

"No, I don't think so. The way I done it, I was jumping up like a Jack-in-the-box. To win, you have to play well and score well for four days. I will pitch up on Thursday, hopefully with a little bit of confidence from France, and hope that some of it is still left there from Sunday."