His opening round of 74 got Luke off on the wrong foot. A couple of missed short-range putts were not the real problem, though. Unlike the winner, Tiger Woods, who avoided Hoylake's 94 bunkers by not trying to take them on from the tee, Luke took on the traps…and came off second-best on the first day especially. He made the cut comfortably with a second round 68 but 73 and 71 at the weekend left him all of 16 shots behind Woods in the finish.

"The greens were tough to judge and I was two-over after five and struggling. But my main problem was driving in too many fairway bunkers. Maybe I was a bit too aggressive off the tee. Every time I made a birdie, the next hole I hit it into a bunker, took a bogey and gave it back. So it was a bit of a frustrating opening round." But it was a bit of a frustrating week. I played quite nicely the second day and I played pretty good the last day but just didn't get much out of it. It was one of those weeks where it just didn't quite go my way.

"The R and A set the course up with some tough pins. There were still a lot of birdies to be had it you played it smartly but, slightly off line, hit a few bunkers here and there, miss just the wrong side of the greens and you could make bogeys easily. I didn't play the par-fives well enough, especially on the weekend. I was even-par for the par-fives and they were the holes where you wanted to make up a bit of ground and I got lapped by the field.

"Tiger decided he wanted to play short. He knows he's a good five and six-iron player. I don't think my strategy was quite correct."

Summing up his two latest majors, Luke feels the US Open might be his better chance of the two. "Everything I do in my swing is geared towards hitting the ball higher and farther. That's very much against what you need on a links course. It's not an excuse, though. Of all the four majors, perhaps the US Open would be more favoured to my game."

Before taking a well-earned two-week break, a trip to the Deutsche Bank Players Championship gave Luke chance to virtually seal his Ryder Cup place, but he has enough big events before the showdown with the US at the K Club to have plenty more chances to ensure he makes it into the team without needing a wild-card this time.

"You have to play fresh every week and the Players Championship in Germany is my fourth in a row. I need to take a little bit of time off before the US PGA Championship. But playing in Germany, the PGA, the NEC and Munich, can all bring big points. I had a good result at Loch Lomond and I'll be playing six big events counting for the Ryder Cup, so I'm making a big effort to try to make the team. If I keep playing solidly I believe, well I hope, it will happen.

"The game has been pretty solid this year. I had a nice win in the Honda, I've been playing very consistently with quite a few top tens in the US and over here and I feel like my swing is getting very close to being where I'm really comfortable on the course. I've been working on a few things over the last few weeks. I'm very comfortable with the swing and if I have a good week on the greens, anything can happen."

If he does make it to the K Club, his experience of American layouts may prove to Luke's advantage he feels. "The Ryder Cup is a different game altogether to a normal stroke play week. But as far as I know, and I've not played there yet, I believe the K Club is very much like an American course, not linksy like many other courses in Ireland. I enjoyed the last match so much, that's why I'm so determined to get in again. We might even be favourites this time. I'm not sure whether that's a good or a bad thing!"