Colin Montgomerie goes into the Irish Open at Adare Manor on Thursday at his lowest position in the world rankings for nearly 18 years.
Unable to command a place in either last month's Masters or last week's Players Championship, Montgomerie is now down to 88th and fully aware he has to arrest his slide to have any real hope of a ninth Ryder Cup cap in September.
Before departing he was asked if he had felt rustier in the Spanish Open than he thought would be the case and if he was looking forward to showing some better form in Limerick. "Possibly," was his first answer, "hopefully" the second.
But he did also say in Seville: "I'm not losing heart here - I'm not a million miles away. This is a first event just to get back into it."
The last time the 44-year-old Scot was ranked lower was October 1990 - before the first of his appearances against the Americans or the first of his record eight European Order of Merit titles.
It is so long ago, in fact, that Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, Stefan Edberg and Martina Navratilova were Wimbledon champions and Manchester United needed a replay to beat Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final.