Darren Clarke has set his sights on winning twice more in the Ryder Cup qualifying race - and this week's Irish Open at Adare Manor will do nicely for one of them.
Defending champion Padraig Harrington and Lee Westwood, both looking to bounce straight back from missing the cut at the Players Championship in Florida last Friday, are the two favourites, but Clarke's confidence remains high three weeks after his first European Tour victory for almost five years at the Asian Open in Shanghai.
It is now 21 months since the 39-year-old Ulsterman's wife Heather died of breast cancer and he said: "Being a single parent has taken a while to get used to. I suppose everybody has difficult times, but I definitely got closer to my boys through what's happened."
He added: "It's definitely been a different experience, to say the least, looking after the boys, making all the decisions myself. It's not something I ever did before.
"They are happy and I'm certainly a lot happier than I've been for some time. It's just progressing, It's life moving onwards, that's all.
"There were a few times last year where I was going back to venues where I remembered Heather and I used to stay.
"I couldn't quite focus on what I was trying to do. My concentration wasn't as good as it should have been."
He added: "My whole schedule is based around Europe, to start climbing up the world rankings, which I've done," he said.
"It's all worked out as we would have hoped so far and I'm doing everything I can to try to make the Ryder Cup team. It's one I desperately want to play in.
"Some people may frown at my (US Open) decision, but that's the way I see it. My preparations wouldn't be the way that I would want them going into a major championship."