You could see it in his eyes. He was revelling in being so close to a Ryder Cup, but Graeme McDowell wasn’t satisfied with the role he was playing.

The Ulsterman was part of BBC Radio 5 Live’s radio commentary team at the K Club for the last Europe v America clash and all that was happening was that his levels of desire to be on the playing team were being stoked like the fires on a steaming train.

"It was like a punishment for not making the side being with you guys on the radio," he chuckled.

And now it’s surely full steam ahead to Valhalla for McDowell who has leaped into sixth place in the qualifying table for Nick Faldo’s team to take on the Americans in September.

McDowell performed brilliantly to turn a two-shot deficit into a two-shot win over the closing seven holes of the Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond.

It is the biggest win of a career that has been a rather two steps forward, one step back affair. From being something of a local stopping service, he now heads to the Open at Birkdale in express mode.

What was so impressive over the four days on the bonnie banks is that he made the most of the fine form he has discovered.

Not everyone is able to do that. It’s one thing to be striking the ball sweetly, it is quite another to convert that into a big win.

McDowell could easily have gone backwards after his meek challenge on the final day at the European Open when he fell to a distant third place in the wake of Ross Fisher’s London Club triumph.

But as he told me after his first round in Scotland he had this lovely feeling of knowing exactly what the clubhead is doing.

This manifested itself into a string of iron shots of surgical precision that set him apart from the rest of a high quality field.

His approach to the 15th, a nine iron to a mere three feet, typified this and brought about his third birdie in a row and effectively sealed the deal.

“Those were the shots for me this week, seven, eight and nine irons,” McDowell said afterwards.

“I also played a little bump and run with a six iron to make birdie at the 13th, just the sort of shot I’ll need at Birkdale. I turned to my caddie who says 'this isn’t good preparation for the Open!’”

Yes, next stop the Lancashire links that will play host to the third major of the year.

McDowell will be vulnerable to burn out; winning tournaments is an exhausting business and he has played in each of the last four weeks.

But he’ll bank on adrenaline to kick-in at Birkdale and at least he goes there pretty safe in the knowledge that his season’s goal of making the Ryder Cup team has almost certainly been achieved.

We will have to look elsewhere for a an expert summariser at Valhalla.