Paul Dunne says the presence of Rory McIlroy nipping at his heels in the final round of the British Masters actually helped him psychologically as he claimed his first European Tour win.
Dunne hit a stunning final round of 61 to claim his maiden victory on the European Tour, winning by three strokes from McIlroy, who himself recorded his lowest round of the year on Sunday with a 63.
The Greystones golfer partly credited his win to a changed mindset, saying that rather than squinting continually at the scoreboard and adopting a cautious approach to eke his way over the line, he chose to keep going for shots and trying to make birdies.
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Speaking on Game On on RTÉ 2fm, Dunne said the intimidating presence of the four-time major winner on the charge helped him realise he needed to keep playing in a gung-ho, aggressive fashion.
"I've been up there with a chance to contend on Sunday a few times this year. And I've never really gone out with the right mindset to just put the foot down and try to win the tournament rather than to just play and hope I'm in contention near the end.
"If you're three shots ahead of anybody, half your mind thinks they'll make a run at you and half your mind thinks they'll probably to stall.
"So, to have Rory behind me was kind of helpful because I knew he wasn't going to stall. I knew he was going to make a few birdies coming in.
"Which meant that I knew that I couldn't par my way in to win. I had to keep playing aggressively.
"So, Rory chasing me, rather than anyone else, helped me to stay in that mindset. I needed to just keep pushing forward and get to the 18th as many shots ahead as I could possibly be."
In April, Dunne led the Trophee Hassan II tournament in Morocco (a European Tour event) by two shots after 54 holes.
He shot a steady one-under-par final round of 72 but was dragged into a play-off after Edoardo Molinari finished birdie-eagle on the last two holes. Dunne was subsequently beaten in the sudden-death playoff.
Dunne said he learned from that experience coming down the final stretch at Close House.
"When I was playing in Morocco, I went out (on the final day) with a two shot lead and I went out thinking I had it won already and I just had to not mess up. And because of that I made a few silly mistakes.
"The more I see people win, the more I realised that you have to play really well to win. You can never stall your way in and get the job done.
"You've just to go out and play your best round of golf on Sunday. Everyone who wins plays well on Sunday. It's just something I've noticed.
"So that helps the mindset. But even in Morocco, I felt I still had it won with a few holes to play. And then Edoardo finished to birdie-eagle to make it a play-off.
"So, there's me thinking again that Rory's probably going to birdie the last three or make an eagle somewhere. So, I was trying to put myself in a position that even if someone did make a run like that, it wouldn't matter because I'd be too far ahead."
