"I did get down on bended-knee. I thought it would be good to keep up the old English tradition. Now we have to make a few important decisions. We are planning to have a family and we have to decide whether we raise the children in England or America."

And the back problem? Well that flared up at the start of the Wachovia tournament in Charlotte and gave Luke quite a scare. "It came out of nowhere. I haven't had a back problem since college and even that was minor. I've been very fit these last five years as a pro. I was just bending down putting on my shoe when suddenly I felt something go in the lower part of my back. I had to pull out of the Wachovia and the back was still a bit sore the following week but I played decently and finished sixth in the Byron Nelson, so I hope the problem is over. It tightens up a bit but it's about 99 per cent fixed."

In fact his bad back came hard on the heels of another mishap. "I finished up having more time off than I'd planned after the Masters. I was meant to play in China but I burst a blood vessel in my ear flying back from Florida to Chicago, caused by a sinus infection, and I couldn't make the trip."

Beware the injured golfer, they say. That adage proved true at Wentworth in the BMW Championship. However, it wasn't Luke who came back from a bad back to win, but his Ryder Cup team-mate and friend David Howell. Luke started promisingly, though, sharing the lead on the first day and then surging ahead on his own early in the second round with, for him, an historic hole-in-one at the Burma Road second.

"It was a nice shot, even if I do say so myself, a seven-iron from 146 yards, just a little punch, with the wind left-to-right. It pitched to about eight feet behind the hole and spun back nicely into the hole. I've had six or seven playing socially but it was my first ace in a tournament."

A few putting blips cost Luke dearly at Wentworth and he finished in 25th place, 14 strokes adrift of Howell. "I found the greens a bit bumpy. Obviously, after my start, it wasn't what I was looking for. But I had not played much golf since the Masters. I feel my game is close, although I did worry about hitting a few drives to the left. I've got a couple of weeks to get the kinks out."

One part of his game didn't need ironing out. He proved that with a stunning shot into the tight 18th green on Sunday afternoon at Wentworth. "It was a nice way to finish the week, a great two-iron [to just eight feet]. It gets your confidence up. I've been getting on really well with the MP32s. I'm very confident with them. I can hit the ball a little higher now and that's something I'd been looking for, so they are working out very well."

Having made the switch to MP32s from MP33s, Luke is looking forward to an important run of tournaments, which includes a return to Europe after playing the second major of the season. "I've got a good schedule coming up. I'm going to be playing at Westchester, the US Open, and then I'll play four in a row, three of them over in Europe: Scottish Open, British Open and Deutsche Bank in Hamburg."

What does he know about the US Open and British Open courses? One is a mystery and the other he visited with his sponsors Royal Bank of Scotland to take part in a Royal and Ancient Day, just before playing the European Tour's flagship event at Wentworth.

"Well I know nothing about Winged Foot because I've never been there. I've just heard it is a very good US Open course, tight and needing plenty of accuracy. I'll be expecting that. "I caught Hoylake on a very nice day and shot a 68. It was short-sleeved shirt weather and really no wind at all. The course played very mildly, to say the least. I thought the fairways were a little bit more generous than most British Open courses I've seen in the past few years. A lot of the bunkers were between 260-280 yards from the tee, which the longer players could take out of play. So unless I'm driving it badly I'm hoping those bunkers won't be an issue for me. The rough needs to grow. Hopefully we'll get some good weather and it will get nice and thick."