Edoardo Molinari is targeting Open Championship and Ryder Cup glory having tasted his first victory on the European Tour at the Scottish Open.
The 29-year-old landed the title by three shots over Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke in what was four days of thrilling golf on the bonny banks of Loch Lomond.
And Molinari was at the centre of most of the excitement. He opened with a 66 and while he was pegged back by Clarke, a brilliant third-round 63 gave him a lead he never looked like relinquishing.
His final-day 74 in severe winds was equally as impressive. His steely resolve and crisp iron play saw him take a five-shot lead with four holes to play.
After double-bogeying the 15th the gap was just three with three to play. But a rock-solid par finish slammed the door shut on Clarke's challenge and must give him confidence that he can move on to bigger and better things.
This week's Open at St Andrews is the first thing on his agenda and he admits he can't wait to take on the challenge at the home of golf.
He said: "Winning the Scottish Open is a dream for me. It's a great feeling. I'm delighted with the way I finished. My five-iron at the 17th was the best of my life. And the drive at the last was up there with the best of my life too.
"Now I can't wait to get to St Andrews. It is a place I've always loved since the first time I played it. I think it's a course that gets better the more times you play it. I'm looking forward to going up and playing a practice round."
He will play that practice round with his brother Francesco.
But later this year the duo could be playing together for real in the Ryder Cup. They played together for the first time in a final round at Loch Lomond and are now both closing in on making Colin Montgomerie's team.
Francesco, courtesy of his equal fourth finish at Loch Lomond, is now fifth in the points race, while his elder sibling is up from 11th to sixth on the world list from which the first four members of Montgomerie's side will come.
"To play in the Ryder Cup would be fantastic," he said.
"I didn't have any expectation before this week as I didn't have any expectation of winning or making the team. Obviously today is a great push towards that. I think me and Francesco have shown that we can play well together."
If they both qualified they would be the first brothers to compete since Bernard and Geoffrey Hunt competed back in 1963.
And by winning last year's World Cup for Italy they have already shown they make a formidable doubles team.
"We make a good team," said Edoardo.
"We compliment each other very well. We are both very good drivers and Francesco is one of the best iron players on Tour. And I'm a good putter.
"We showed that at the World Cup where we were playing the foursome and fourball, like they do in the Ryder Cup. He was was hitting the second shots and I was holing the putts."
Copyright 2010 AFP Global Edition
