I’ve become Portugal Masters Champion since my last blog and it feels simply great.

I’d been climbing the world rankings steadily, but it had been over two years since my last win... and I was starting to wonder if there was going to be a 30th having been stuck on 29 for so long.

I was even starting to doubt myself a little bit by getting into contention and then not finishing the job so it’s nice to be back on the winning trail and particularly in Portugal where Oceanico do a great job for golf.

The win will probably be remembered for one particular shot on 17 during the final round where I couldn’t afford any mistakes.  I was stuck between two clubs for my approach.  It was right on the limit of my three iron. Hitting it during the pro-am is one thing and hitting it with the tournament at stake is another. I tried to cut in a five wood and it went dead straight finishing behind trees and shrubs.

Compounding the problems was a bad lie, but that was the least of my worries. When I looked up all I could see was foliage. Through the branches and leaves I could see the green, but it was sloping down towards water – a wonderful landscape faced with my hardest pitch of the year.

But sometimes certain shots define tournaments and this was the one for me. It could have cost me the title, but instead it won me it. I think Billy Foster my caddie was hiding and praying when I played it. I can't think I've ever played a better chip and I don't ever want to have to play one again.

When Billy used to caddie for the incomparable Seve Ballesteros he often heard the Spaniard saying: Second is no good. I know what he means and that’s why Billy keeps saying it to me now. But it was a case of first at last for me.

One of the territories which comes with being a successful golfer is that people occasionally think that you must be an authority on everything and expect you to have an opinion on anything from the state of the economy in Uzbekistan to the mating habits of the lesser-spotted woodpecker.

Anyway, I’m not an administrator and have no intention of every becoming one, but I was recently asked who I thought should be chairman of the tournament committee. I suggested that it shouldn’t go to anybody who still had aspirations to do well on the Tour.

I'd make it a paid post and give it to somebody that's not concentrating on playing golf otherwise you just become a pin cushion for people on the putting green, firing complaints at you. They just want personal matters sorted out and I don't think that's the chairman’s job.

You're in a no-win situation because you're trying to concentrate on getting your game in shape and shooting 65 on a Thursday while people come up and ask why there's not enough pasta in the players' lounge or why their courtesy car was 35 seconds late.

The Race To Dubai, however, is a topic I am very focussed on because my aim is to get to the United Arab Emirates either as leading the money list or within an amount of money that is less than the difference between first and second. I just want to have the chance to win the entire shooting match. Now that would be happy days.

The Race has had a great first season and what’s particularly good about it is that although it’s about competing and consistency over the season more than one player could be in with a chance of taking the big prize in the last event of the season.

I wasn’t the least bit surprised that Rory McIlroy headed the race until I took over following my win in Portugal. He’s had the good results at the right time and shown just what a force he is likely to become in the game.  And because he’s only 20 (those were the days) he won’t be feeling much pressure and he definitely doesn’t play as if he feels it.

For me, obviously I wouldn’t turn my nose up at the massive bonus available to the winner, it’s about determining who has been the most consistent over a long period of time. When I won the money list in 2000 it was the be all and end all at that stage, and even now it would mean a great deal.

I won six times in 2000 so obviously I’m not as consistent a ‘winner’ as I was then, but I think I'm a more consistent ‘player’ now - certainly in Majors and World Golf Championship events. Today I feel more comfortable in those big events whereas I wasn’t a decade ago.

My game is as good as it’s ever been, but I have a few compartments in the game that need fine-tuning to push me over the winning line. I don't think it's so much, but the odd shot here or there can make a massive difference. I need to be sharper from 80 yards and in and I don’t get up and down as often as I should so those are areas I spend most of my time working on when I'm away from the golf course and tournaments. But you have to strike a balance because if you concentrate too much on one part of your game then other areas may suffer.

By the time I post my next Blog, the first champion of the Race To Dubai will have been determined so keep your fingers crossed. Either way I’ll let you know how things went.